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MEMOIRS OF ZI PRE' 



EDMUND M/±>UNNE, D.D 

>l 

Bishop of Peoria 




'osr*^* 



ST. LOUIS, MO., 1914 

Published by B. Herder 

17 South Broadway 



FREIBURG (Baden) 
GERMANY 



68, Great Russell Str. 
LONDON, W. C. 






Copyright, 191% 

by 

Joseph Gummersbaoh 



All rights reserved 
Printed in U. 8. A. 



VAIL-BALLOU COMPANY 

BINGHAMTON AND NEW YORK 



$C £ZL- Hff < 
DEC 10 1914 

CI.A388782 



FOREWORD 

The present booklet treats of a few doctrinal 
points unavoidably omitted in a former tract 
bearing the title of " Polemic Chat/' When 
these Memoirs began to appear serially in the 
Peoria Cathedral Calendar, a friendly critic 
remarked : " The Bishop is utilizing his paro- 
chial experiences among the Italians ' to point a 
moral and adorn a tale.' " Precisely. Our 
chief aim in the present chronology of events is 
to instruct the people, " to preach the word in 
season and out of season, reproving, entreating, 
rebuking in all patience and doctrine." 

Several anachronisms as well as changes in 
the names and occupations of the characters have 
been purposely introduced, so that the ingenuity 
of even a Sherlock Holmes might be baffled 
should he attempt to identify them with certain 
individuals of the Italian colony. 

Some may deem Pasqualino too clever for his 
tender age. Unusqiiisque abundat sensu suo. 
Please consider, friendly or hostile reader, as 
the case may be, that our youthful polemist had 
completed three years of classics with unusual 
success before encountering his adversary. The 



FOREWORD 

children of sunny Italy develop much earlier 
than those of northern climes. Youthful prodi- 
gies bud forth occasionally in the realm of litera- 
ture, poetry, painting, music and mathematics. 
Why should they not blossom also in the field of 
polemics? Besides, were Pasqualino a youth of 
mediocre talent, his utterances would not be 
worth recording. At any rate it is upon them 
and not upon his personality that we wish to 
focus your attention. 

Pasqualino's father represents indeed no par- 
ticular individual, but rather the composite em- 
bodiment of reprehensible traits which Zi Pre' 
had ample occasion to reprove among the male 
members of his flock. The exemplary Christian 
virtues of the mother have not been overdrawn. 
The most elaborate portrayal of maternal solici- 
tude and self-sacrifice falls, as a general rule, 
immeasurably below the reality. 

The tactics of Evangelical zealots to wrest 
Italian children from the One True Fold, are 
melancholy facts familiar to the hundred or 
more Sunday School teachers of Guardian Angel 
Mission. The conversion of the proselytizer, 
his subsequent public reparation and edifying 
death are true in every detail. 

The Author. 



CONTENTS 

CHAPTER PAGE 

I Italian Quarter i 

II Italian Customs 13 

III Proselytizers 19 

IV Pasqualino 28 

V Early Training 39 

VI Misnomer for a School ...... 49 

VII Confirmation 60 

VIII School Days 7 2 

IX At the Zoo 82 

X Pseudo-Reformers 92 

XI Unity . 102 

XII Sanctity . . . .109 

XIII Catholicity 118 

XIV Apostolicity 125 

XV Visible Head of the Church .... 133 

XVI Infallibility 143 

XVII Veneration of Sacred Images . . . .152 

XVIII Veneration of Relics and Invocation of 

Saints 162 

XIX Extreme Unction 171 

XX Indulgences 178 

XXI Purgatory 185 

XXII Immaculate Conception 194 

XXIII The Rosary 205 

XXIV Fasting and Abstinence . . . . . 212 
XXV Christian Ethics 220 

XXVI The Awakening ........ 231 



MEMOIRS OF ZI PRE 



j 1 



CHAPTER I 

ITALIAN QUARTER 

ON the south side of Forquer Street, Chi- 
cago, and nearly midway between Des- 
plaines and Halsted, there stands an unpreten- 
tious brick structure with a Romanesque fagade 
surmounted by a Roman cross. It is the Chiesa 
deirAngelo Custode. The mellow tints of sea 
and sky in the decoration of the interior from 
vestibule to sanctuary are unmistakably Italian. 
The stained-glass windows of St. Michael, St. 
Raphael, and of the Guardian Angel, carry the 
thoughts of the onlooker back to the basilicas 
of Rome and Florence and cause him to murmur 
the names of Italian masters. The statues of 
San Vito, Rocco, Lucia, and Sebastiano, recall 
vividly to mind those Christian martyrs espe- 
cially dear to the Italian heart, while Raphael's 
Madonna della Sedia tenderly clasping her Di- 

1 Zi Pre' is an abbreviation of Zio Preute meaning 
"Uncle Priest," a familiar title given the clergy in 
Southern Italy. 

I 



2 MEMOIRS OF ZI PRE' 

vine Bambino seems to look down with maternal 
solicitude upon the congregation gathered in rev- 
erential attitude to assist at Holy Mass and hear 
the word of God in their native tongue. 

The sacred edifice and its humble surroundings 
are redolent of Italy. Forquer Street is an in- 
significant, narrow thoroughfare jutting east 
from Canal, making a slight jog at Halsted, and 
terminating west in Blue Island Avenue. It 
might easily pass for any one of the crooked 
lanes in lower Naples. In fact, when the visitor 
hears the itinerant peddlers shouting: " Ecco 
donne, le palate I i cavoli! le cipolle!" it requires 
quite a mental effort to realize that he is in the 
heart of Chicago and not upon an Italian border 
of the Mediterranean. Guardian Angel Parish 
comprises emigrants from nearly every province 
of the Italian peninsula as well as from Sicily. 
The representation from Modena, Milan, Pied- 
mont, and Genoa is rather small ; but the natives 
from Naples, Salerno, Bari, Basilicata, Abruzzi, 
Calabria, Catanzaro, le Marche, Lucca, Messina, 
and Palermo, are as plentiful as the English 
sparrow. A parish averaging annually over a 
thousand baptisms cannot be even remotely sus- 
pected of race suicide. The Northern Italians 
are generally well educated, while their brothers 
of the South are quite illiterate. For fully one- 
half of the latter the confessor is obliged to re- 



ITALIAN QUARTER 3 

cite the Atto di dolor e and have them repeat it 
after him. Yet even these are not so ignorant 
of religious truth as might be inferred from their 
inability to recite a set formula of prayer. One 
individual who could not decipher his name in 
letters two feet long on a sign board was told 
that he could not communicate on a certain 
morning. The priest did not wish to delay the 
Mass by hearing his confession. 

" E perche non si puo communicare ? " he de- 
manded. 

" Perche non ci sono particole in numero suf- 
ficiente," replied the priest. 

" Potete f rangerle," persisted the poor fellow. 
Needless to say his confession was heard. 

The Southern Italians compensate in their 
working knowledge of the Ten Commandments 
for what they lack in secular education. They 
are honest, industrious, and temperate, pure in 
their domestic lives and law-abiding in their 
civic relations. Some of them are generous 
even beyond their means and imbued with a 
deep sense of gratitude. The Socialists among 
them are few but ferocious. At heart they are 
really anarchists. It is characteristic of the 
Latin races that they are never content with half- 
way measures. The Southern Italians have a 
keen sense of right and wrong. They are 
scrupulously faithful in keeping their word. 



4 MEMOIRS OF ZI PRE' 

Abortion, the limitation of the size of families 
by unlawful practices, deliberate murder for lust 
or gain, are crimes practically unknown among 
them. Black Hand tactics were unheard of 
among the inhabitants of the West Side colony 
until that travesty on justice in Omaha where 
the kidnapper was acquitted. His success has 
apparently encouraged blackmailers of all na- 
tionalities throughout the country. 

The idea prevailing among not a few Ameri- 
cans that the chief occupation of Italians consists 
in pushing a banana cart, selling peanuts, or 
grinding an organ with monkey obbligato, is li- 
belous. The street musicians hail with few ex- 
ceptions from Senerchia, and seldom mix with 
the rest of the Italian colony. Occasionally the 
Italians may get excited over a game of morra 2 
or boccia, 3 but it is rarely serious. The vast ma- 
jority of the men are manual laborers. They 
are engaged in excavating, grading, mining, or 
sweeping the streets. The women make chil- 
dren's clothes which are sold in the department 
stores. The boys sell newspapers or polish 
shoes. The latter have Italianized their occupa- 

2 Morra is a popular game in which the contestants 
usually gamble for the drinks by guessing the number 
of fingers the opponent throws out. 

3 Boccia is a pastime in which the players roll wooden 
balls along the ground and the one bowling nearest to 
a given ball is declared victor. 



ITALIAN QUARTER 5 

tion and style themselves shinatori. Very few 
of the men are fond of whiskey. Many of the 
railroad laborers return in the Fall to the city 
where they spend the winter in enforced idle- 
ness. Some of them pass this period in drink- 
ing, carousing, and slashing one another, which 
of course benefits neither soul nor body. Many 
a family produces its own wine. This was im- 
pressed upon the pastor's memory in a rather 
unforgettable way. He had been preparing a 
young Italian couple for First Holy Communion. 
The parents of the bride kept a fruit store near 
the church. One evening while strolling by 
their door the priest dropped in to pay them a 
visit. The family happened to be quietly cele- 
brating a birthday of one of the members. All 
arose in deference to " Zi Pre' " or Uncle Priest, 
as he is familiarly called by Southern Italians. 
The mother hastened to procure him a glass of 
the wine they were drinking, and assured him 
that it was very pure because home-made. As 
the priest was unfamiliar with the wine-making 
process, the good woman sought to enlighten him 
on the subject, and remarked incidentally: 
" Abbiam f atto chisto vino dalle uve che non si 
potevan vendere, perche comminciavano gia a 
guastare. Ecco ! " It was the first and last 
time " Zi Pre' " irrigated his thorax with home- 
made wine. 



6 MEMOIRS OF ZI PRE' 

It has often been observed that at High Mass 
the congregation is composed mostly of men, 
whilst at the early Masses the women are in the 
majority. Undoubtedly more men than women 
emigrate from Italy to America. Most of the 
mothers cannot go to High Mass, because they 
must attend to domestic duties, look after the 
small children, prepare the dinner, etc. 

Italian bishops and priests should try to dis- 
suade husbands from emigrating unless accom- 
panied by their wives. Whilst in some instances 
" absence makes the heart grow fonder," and re- 
mittances are kept up regularly for a certain 
period, with an alarming number it becomes a 
case of "out of sight out of mind." The divi- 
sion of the family usually proves disastrous. 
Everything here in America seems to conspire 
against the Italian immigrant so as to render him 
oblivious of both God and family. Ignorant of 
the language of the country, he is handicapped 
from the very moment of his arrival. 

Poverty, poor crops, and excessive taxation 
drives him here, like the Irish, German, and 
Slav, to better his condition. The others came 
with their clergy; the Italian did not. Anxious 
to secure employment, he easily falls a prey to 
the schemers of his own nationality. They bat- 
ten upon his ignorance and inexperience. Once 
a poor fellow came to " Zi Pre' " for a letter of 



ITALIAN QUARTER 7 

recommendation to the Mayor in order that he 
might obtain work in cleaning the streets. " I 
don't want to ask so-and-so, a saloonkeeper and 
ward heeler," he said, " because if he gets me the 
job, I shall have to pay him so much a month. 
Failing to do so, he will have me ' fired ' in 
order that some other unfortunate may be 
fleeced." Work is promised him perhaps with 
a section gang, but on condition that he pay the 
labor agent five or ten dollars for the privilege. 
It is aggravating to hear flippant individuals 
speak of " the lazy, shiftless Italian." His first 
and consuming desire is to get work not only for 
himself, but also for every member of his family 
able to become a wage-earner. Many of the 
Italian children are remarkably bright, and if 
only allowed to pursue their studies might be- 
come prominent in professional, commercial, and 
political life. Nobody will question the neces- 
sity of a child labor law. Those enforcing it, 
however, should be endowed with discretionary 
power. The Illinois statute regarding child 
labor has apparently done more harm than good 
in its application. The requirements, calculated 
to prevent all possible deception, closely re- 
semble the measurements employed in the Ber- 
tillon system. One might infer that the factory 
inspector was dealing with criminals rather than 
with the offspring of honest parents. The only 



8 MEMOIRS OF ZI PRE* 

thing lacking in the demands is that of a wax 
impression of the applicant's hands and feet. 
To state the age and sex of the child may pass, 
but when it comes to defining the color of his 
complexion and hair, his weight, stature, and 
other peculiarities of his body, the requirements 
of the labor certificate border on the imperti- 
nent as well as ridiculous. To be thoroughly 
appreciated, this law, fathered and promoted by 
the much-advertised social uplifters, must be 
seen in action. A poor Italian widow, the 
mother of four children, came to the rectory one 
day seeking a labor certificate for her oldest boy 
of sixteen, so that he might continue unmolested 
at his work. He was the sole support of the 
family. His employer told him he would have 
to quit unless he obtained an affidavit from the 
Board of Education. We repaired to the Juve- 
nile Court thinking to obtain there the necessary 
permit. The judge's heart went out in sym- 
pathy to the unfortunate mother, but he was 
powerless to act. He could only give an affi- 
davit as to the boy's age. That alone would not 
suffice. The boy should furthermore have an 
affidavit from the Board of Education, which 
positively refused to issue a certificate to any 
child unable to read and write the English lan- 
guage! This the youth could not do, as he was 
only a few months in the country. What relief 



ITALIAN QUARTER 9 

then was in sight for this unfortunate family? 
None. The mother could be sent to the poor- 
house, the younger brothers and sisters might be 
placed in orphanages. The oldest boy was too 
big for the orphan asylum. Nothing was left 
for him but to beg or steal. He should not dare 
to earn his living by the sweat of his brow be- 
cause that was illegal! When a law forbids 
work to those who are eager to work and forces 
them into pauperism, " white slavery," or other 
disreputable methods of gaining a livelihood, the 
sooner it is repealed or radically amended, the 
better for all concerned. 

Near the church lived an old man who had be- 
come violently insane. One morning he tried to 
slit his niece's throat with a potato knife. She 
ran across the street to the rectory for protec- 
tion. A half hour later the affrighted niece and 
her demented kinsman in the custody of two 
policemen were conveyed in a patrol wagon to 
the detention hospital, while the priest proceeded 
thither in a street car. The occupants of the 
patrol wagon breathed a sigh of relief upon 
reaching their destination, for their trip was far 
from being a " joy ride." All the way the un- 
fortunate man had kept up a rambling denuncia- 
tion of everybody in general and of " Zi Pre 5 " 
in particular, whom he designated as the prince 
of devils. After the maniac's commitment, the 



io MEMOIRS OF ZI PRE* 

judge, having another Italian case on the docket, 
requested the priest to remain and act as inter- 
preter. A clean-shaven, intelligent-looking man 
of about thirty, and dressed as a waiter, had been 
arrested in the loop district for having expec- 
torated in a lady's face! The prosecutor main- 
tained that the waiter was a dangerous para- 
noiac who imagined that all women were trying 
to ensnare him. This he vigorously denied 
when questioned by the priest. " It is only that 
painted street- walker," he exclaimed ; " she has 
visited the restaurant repeatedly. Yesterday she 
kept dogging me with her importunities in a 
crowded thoroughfare, and to show my disgust 
I tried to spit in her face. Unfortunately I 
missed her and struck someone else. The 
officer allowed her to escape and arrested 
me. 

" Are you a Catholic ? " asked the priest. 

" Yes," he replied, at the same time producing 
a rosary from his vest pocket. His answers to 
the queries convinced the judge of his sanity 
and he was released. He fared much better 
than another Italian who spent eleven months in 
a federal prison for supposed complicity with a 
gang of counterfeiters. He might yet be lan- 
guishing in jail, had not his pastor in the old 
country become interested in his case. The 
granting of a bonus for every conviction is not 



ITALIAN QUARTER n 

always free from the danger of flagrant injus- 
tice. 

Shortly before the completion of Guardian 
Angel Church the priest was summoned to at- 
tend a poor Italian named Giuseppe Lio, who 
was shot down in cold blood by a murderous po- 
liceman. Some teachers of the Polk Street 
School had complained of the side-walk being 
obstructed by Italians. Giuseppe was seated 
with a couple of companions on a garbage box 
in front of his boarding-house. The policeman 
ordered them to move on. Giuseppe pointed to 
the lodging-house and tried to explain that he 
lived there, and then the shooting followed. 
Immediately after, this uniformed assassin was 
seen by several witnesses to enter a hallway and 
close the door. A few minutes later he emerged 
with his coat all slashed, evidently for the pur- 
pose of creating the impression that his unfor- 
tunate victim had assaulted him with a stiletto! 
Giuseppe carried no weapon of any kind. Noth- 
ing was done to this guardian of the peace. He 
was simply transferred to another precinct. 
Such injustices could be easily avoided or at least 
greatly diminished in number by appointing more 
Italians on the police force. At the time of the 
above-mentioned occurrence there were but two 
Italian policemen in the City of Chicago with an 
Italian population of about sixty thousand! 



12 MEMOIRS OF ZI PRE 9 

Many Italians are prevented from joining the 
force because unable to pass the physical ex- 
amination. Surely something more than girth 
and stature is required in an efficient policeman. 
What some of the Italian aspirants to the force 
lack in physical measurements may be counter- 
balanced by intelligence and courage. Petro- 
sino, the New York detective, who was assas- 
sinated a few years ago in Sicily, was in the 
front rank of his profession. 



CHAPTER II 

ITALIAN CUSTOMS 

THE peculiar custom of having both a civil 
and religious marriage ceremony in Italy 
causes many bridal couples to fall easy victims 
to the wiles of justice-shop solicitors who prey 
upon their credulity and their supposition that 
the marriage laws of this country and Italy are 
practically the same. Are the justices of the 
peace in collusion with these individuals? Are 
the latter paid a commission for deceiving Ital- 
ian immigrants? We are inclined to think so. 
Why should they drum up trade for a justice of 
the peace unless there be some remuneration in 
sight ? Some of the " runners " speak Italian 
and have very persuasive methods. It is among 
the Italians that they reap the most abundant 
harvest. " Wouldn't you like to be married ac- 
cording to the laws of the state the same as in 
Italy ? " they ask of the prospective bridegroom 
and bride. u It only costs $3.50, and for an 
extra half-dollar you will receive a beautiful 
marriage certificate with a picture of the Bible 

13 



14 MEMOIRS OF ZI PRE' 

and the matrimonial bark drawn by two im- 
maculate swans. This you can frame and hang 
up for an ornament over the domestic hearth." 
Che bellezzal Many Italian couples, like unsus- 
pecting geese, are thus deluded. Even were 
they aware that the civil ceremony is not re- 
quired in this country, it does not take much to 
persuade them that returning to Italy with a cer- 
tificate only from the priest, the Italian govern- 
ment will not recognize their marriage as valid. 
The imposition usually succeeds with the rela- 
tives of the bride, and they insist upon the per- 
formance of the civil ceremony before a judge. 
When upbraided for their folly by the priest, 
they reply that they were simply following the 
Italian custom. He tells them that, being now 
in America, they should follow American and 
not Italian customs. In Italy no marriage is 
considered legal unless a formal ceremony be 
performed by a state official. In America the 
state grants the same authority regarding the 
marriage ceremony to priests, judges, and jus- 
tices. Bridegroom and bride require only a mar- 
riage license from the County Clerk, who exacts 
a nominal fee for his trouble. They should 
bring this document to the parish priest who is 
authorized both by Church and State to marry 
them. Within thirty days after the ceremony 
he is obliged in Illinois under penalty of a hun- 



ITALIAN CUSTOMS 15 

dred dollars' fine to fill out the license and return 
it to the County Clerk for record. If the Ital- 
ian peasants could only be induced to follow this 
counsel, they would save themselves a great 
amount of annoyance, expense, and ridicule, 
and, above all, they would avoid the commission 
of a sacrilege. 

In spite of the blunders occasionally made 
anent civil marriage, the Southern Italians cling 
tenaciously to many of the old-country customs 
which emigrants of other nationalities might do 
well to imitate. Chief among these customs is 
the good old-fashioned practice of chaperoning 
their daughters. Seldom do you hear of an 
Italian girl going astray. Italian maidens are 
never permitted to attend evening entertain- 
ments, balls, or receptions, unless accompanied 
by their parents. When the daughters reach the 
age of seventeen or eighteen, it is difficult to 
keep them under restraint. The parents prefer 
then that they marry, and be under a husband's 
care and protection. 

The misinterpretation of Italian names is 
something awful, and largely due to the negli- 
gence of American school-teachers, who seem to 
be totally indifferent whether or not they grasp 
correctly the names of their pupils. Vincenzo, 
Vincent, a young Italian boy, assured me that his 
name was Jimmie. Assunta or Assumption, the 



16 MEMOIRS OF Zl PRE' 

name of an Italian girl, was erroneously ren- 
dered Susie. In the Sunday-school Lucy was 
falsely given for Leontina; Charlie for Egidio, 
Tom for Domenico; Gus for Costantino; and 
Mike for Pasquale! The pastor once encoun- 
tered the keeper of an ice-cream parlor who pre- 
sented his card with the inscription: Sullivan 
N — . " What is your baptismal name in Ital- 
ian? " asked the priest. " Salvatore," replied the 
man. It took a long argument to convince this 
usurper of the Hibernian title that the English 
equivalent of Salvatore was not Sullivan, but 
Salvator or Saviour. Italian children are usu- 
ally named after the feast day on which they are 
born. Hence when you hear them called Na- 
tale, Pasquale, Annunziata, Assunta, or Con- 
cetta, you may safely presume that their birth- 
days fell respectively on the feast of Christmas, 
Easter, Annunciation, Assumption, or the Im- 
maculate Conception. 

It is not unusual to see infants wearing ear- 
rings and bedecked with jewelry when brought 
to the church for baptism. Like the rabbit's 
foot with the " darkey," the ornamentation of a 
Neapolitan bambino would be incomplete with- 
out a charm of coral to protect it against the 
malign influence of the jattatura, or evil eye. 

The Southern Italian is passionately fond of 
music and pyrotechnics. Within its boundaries, 



ITALIAN CUSTOMS 17 

Guardian Angel parish can boast of at least forty 
incorporated benevolent societies named after 
various titles of the Madonna or after some saint 
held in special veneration by the members. 

A lamentable feature of the societies is that 
most of them hold their meetings Sunday morn- 
ing. Every society celebrates annually the feast 
day of its patron with a Solemn High Mass and a 
panegyric. The latter to be effective must in- 
variably conclude with a fervent prayer invok- 
ing the protection of the heavenly patron upon 
all the members of the society from every imag- 
inable evil, temporal as well as spiritual. " Zi 
Pre' " fancied that upon one occasion he had de- 
livered a very masterful discourse on the Blessed 
Virgin; to be precise, it was the feast of the 
Madonna di Monte Viggiano. He was, how- 
ever, speedily disillusioned by the caustic criti- 
cism made by a poor woman upon leaving church 
at the end of the Mass. " Cosa ve ne pare?" 
she was asked in regard to the sermon. " Ne- 
manco una preghiera," she replied. " Not even 
a prayer ! " 

The church function is preceded by a parade 
with a brass band and fireworks. The hiring of 
a brass band is an indispensable feature of every 
society. We recall the case of a laboring man 
who retained membership in five organizations. 
He had five brass bands at his funeral. The 



18 MEMOIRS OF ZI PRE' 

cost of those five bands of music might have 
paid the house rent for his widow for at least a 
year. The brass-band habit will of course 
eventually die out as the people grow more en- 
lightened. A still more lamentable feature of 
these societies is the fact that they are occasion- 
ally controlled by the very worst element in the 
Italian colony. We remember one organization 
bearing the name of a saint, and having for pres- 
ident an adulterous saloon-keeper who aban- 
doned his wife and children in the old country, 
and raised a second family in America. A 
Sicilian society, the largest of its kind in Chi- 
cago, had for its leader a most notorious scamp 
who spent two years in jail for counterfeiting. 
The amazing part of it all is that even when such 
characters are imprisoned, no matter what their 
felony may have been, they do not forfeit their 
membership in the society. It is high time that 
these poor people be taught more self-respect, 
and not allow themselves to be guided by such 
miscreants. 



CHAPTER III 

THE PROSELYTIZERS 

THE sects which infest the Italian district 
strain every nerve to wrest Italian immi- 
grants and their children from the Church. 
The men are decoyed into the sectarian dens of 
these human spiders under the pretext of being 
taught the English language. The little girls are 
enticed by various trinkets and the prospect of 
learning how to sew. As a sedative to the un- 
suspecting a very Catholic-looking cross is 
placed over the entrance of the establishment, 
whilst upon the interior walls may be seen pic- 
tures of our Lord, the Madonna, and of those 
saints most popular among the Italians. Need- 
less to say, these pious images are not intended 
for the veneration of the faithful, but for the 
purpose of deception. Such underhanded meth- 
ods of proselytizing are most reprehensible. 
Instead of elevating, they degrade. They fur- 
nish a powerful incentive to dishonesty. Is it 
not a greater crime to bribe a man to change his 
religious convictions with the alluring bait of 

19 



20 MEMOIRS OF ZI PRE 9 

material gain, raiment, house-rent, or employ- 
ment, than to purchase his vote with a few dol- 
lars in time of election? The best plan for 
these misguided soul-chasers is to expend their 
energy upon themselves and leave the poor Ital- 
ians to the maternal care of the Catholic Church 
to which they belong. For twenty centuries her 
bishops and priests have been conducting the 
work of civilization among all the nations of the 
globe. One of the great problems confronting 
us at the present day is how we are to amalga- 
mate that immense tide of immigration daily 
pouring in upon our shores from Southern 
Europe, Italians, Poles, Bohemians, Slovaks, 
and Slovenes, Croatians, Hungarians, Lithuan- 
ians, and Ruthenians. Here they annually flock 
in thousands, totally unfamiliar with our lan- 
guage, laws, and customs. They iurnish the 
brawn and muscle of our industrial centres. 
They have supplanted the Irish in our factories, 
mines, and workshops. The latter are superin- 
tending the factories, running the railroads, and 
the country generally. They have invaded the 
professions and are devoting their attention to 
law and medicine, police and politics. The 
Catholic Church alone, whose faith is not cir- 
cumscribed by national boundaries, can fully 
realize the motto of our glorious country — " E 
pluribus unum," one composed of many. She is 



THE PROSELYTIZERS 21 

the best qualified to weld into one democratic 
brotherhood, one great American citizenship the 
children of various climes, temperaments, and 
conditions. In every diocese throughout the 
length and breadth of the United States these 
poor foreigners have cooperated most gener- 
ously with their clergy in the erection of churches 
and schools where both young and old are taught 
to revere the laws of God as well as those of 
their adopted country. 

Scarcely a year after his arrival in Chicago 
Archbishop Quigley opened at least a dozen 
churches exclusively for the Italians, to say noth- 
ing of the many he caused to be erected for other 
nationalities. To neutralize the pernicious ef- 
fects of proselytizing zealots among the West- 
Side Italians, provision was made not only for 
the young in the way of a Sunday-school, sodal- 
ities, and sewing-circles, but also for the adults 
by means of a night school. The self-sacrificing 
zeal of the hundred-and-twenty Catholic young 
men and women coming weekly from every part 
of the city and even suburbs in order to teach 
catechism to the Italian children will furnish a 
lengthy chapter to the history of the wonderful 
growth and development of Guardian Angel Mis- 
sion. Great credit is due the Catholic public- 
school teachers who conducted a night school in 
the basement of the rectory during the winter 



22 MEMOIRS OF ZI PRE 

months. It had an average attendance of about 
two hundred Italian workmen. They came with 
the sole desire of learning and were dreadfully 
in earnest. Hence the order and discipline of 
the school were excellent. One young fellow 
with an abnormal thirst for knowledge wanted to 
learn reading, writing, and bookkeeping inside 
of a week, so that he might obtain promotion at 
his place of work. He was a teamster on South 
Water St. for one of the commission houses. 

The basement of the rectory having become 
altogether inadequate to the rapidly increasing 
needs of the night school, the classes were trans- 
ferred to the Dante Public School located diag- 
onally across from the Guardian Angel Church. 
This change deeply affected the editor of the 
Tribuna Transatlantica who availed himself of 
every opportunity to arouse prejudice against 
the pastor and his work among the Italian peo- 
ple. We submit a literal translation of one of- 
fensive paragraph which subsequently appeared 
on the editorial page of his wretched newspaper. 

EVENING SCHOOLS AND IRISH PRIESTLY ACTIVITY 

Last Monday night fully 500 Italian men at- 
tended the opening of the Dante Night School 
for the classes of English. For this we are in- 
debted to the Very Rev. Irish priest, Father 



THE PROSELYTIZERS 23 

Dunne who, rendered furious by the prosperous 
Evangelical missions and schools of the ener- 
getic Marquis Petacci in Ewing, Forquer, and 
W. Taylor streets, and other institutions fre- 
quented by Italians, has been able to obtain the 
Dante School for this purpose through his in- 
fluence. 

We implore our compatriots to continue fre- 
quenting the night school, so that Fr. Dunne may 
have no reason to complain of them. Thus they 
won't be obliged to go to hell, from which place 
this priest wants to save them at all cost. What 
bothers him indeed more than hell and incites 
him to labor among our countrymen is the threat- 
ened loss of fruitful customers. 

In fact about a dozen new churches have been 
recently established in Chicago for the Italians, 
and entrusted to Italian priests who must pay 
for the cost of their construction by cruelly milk- 
ing their compatriots, while the holy shops them- 
selves (botteghe) remain the property of the 
Archbishop who has the largest real estate office 
in the city. 

The poor Italian priests are passing worried 
days and sleepless nights in devising ways and 
means to pay the Archbishop for the churches. 
Some of them have grown old and prematurely 
gray. 



24 MEMOIRS OF ZI PRE* 

Of course we lost no time in coming back at 
our journalistic friend to whom the Italian gam- 
ins applied the familiar sobriquet of " Don Sal- 
siccia " which, being interpreted, means : Mr. 
Sausage. Here is what we said — 

MORE YELPS FROM DON SALSICCIA 

Povero Don Salsiccia! His case is really 
pathetic. Having carefully diagnosed the symp- 
toms as they appeared in last week's issue of the 
Tribuna, and even though he frothed profusely 
at the mouth, we are firmly convinced that it 
was not hydro-, but clericphobia that induced 
him to bark as usual up the wrong tree. Any- 
one at all familiar with the scanty income de- 
rived from the average Italian parish must be 
amused at his mendacious insinuation that 
we are laboring among his compatriots for the 
sake of filthy lucre. Comparing the house of 
God to a shop is truly characteristic of this un- 
scrupulous scribe, and sacrilegious like the most 
of his journalistic utterances. " Cruelly milking 
his compatriots " is redolent of the cow stable, 
and candidly this is the first time we ever saw 
such a lacteal term used in any language, ex- 
cept in reference to quadrupeds. To borrow 
his barnyard metaphor, let me assure him, from 
seven years' personal experience among his patri- 
otic countrymen, that it has been indeed dry 



THE PROSELYTIZERS 25 

milking! Had not generous outsiders like the 
Bremners, Ambergs, and a host of others come 
to our assistance financially, the church, we fear, 
would never have been erected. 

It will be quite a shock for his sensitive nature 
to learn that the Archbishop does not own a sin- 
gle foot of real estate in the city of Chicago. 
Diocesan property is vested in the title, not of 
an individual archbishop, but of a corporation 
sole, legally known as " The Catholic Bishop of 
Chicago." Personally His Grace the Arch- 
bishop holds the same relation to church prop- 
erty as the executor to an estate which he is ap- 
pointed to administer, and he must render a 
strict account of his stewardship when he makes 
his ad limina visit to Rome. He is therefore 
not really the owner, but the custodian. He 
simply holds the property in trust. 

The Italian priests must naturally meet their 
semi-annual interest, and are expected to pay off 
eventually mortgage loans to the companies from 
which they have borrowed money to complete 
their churches. And why not? Is there any 
plausible reason why they should be excepted 
any more than pastors of other nationalities? 
The Tribunas editor apparently fails to under- 
stand that the churches in America are not sub- 
sidized by the Government, as in Catholic coun- 
tries, but for their erection and maintenance 



26 MEMOIRS OF ZI PRE' 

must depend upon the generosity of the faithful, 
— a virtue, needless to say, practically unknown 
to him and his tribe. 

Some years ago a Catholic social club was 
established in the West-Side Italian district by a 
few of the philanthropic members of the Sun- 
day-school Association. It is a signal blessing 
not only for the inhabitants, but also for those 
engaged in its management. The young Italians 
are furnished with reading and billiard rooms, 
dramatic entertainments, and other innocent rec- 
reations. Thus they are kept away from kin- 
dred attractions conducted by our separated 
brethren, and at least one danger of perversion 
is removed. 

The occasional bringing together of Catholic 
young men and women in the exercise of spirit- 
ual and corporal works of mercy is an excellent 
idea, deserving of universal adoption. It tends 
to diminish one of the greatest evils menacing the 
Church in America, the number of mixed mar- 
riages. How many prominent Catholic families 
of Chicago owe their origin to the acquaintances 
and courtships occasioned by the social enter- 
tainments of the good old Union Catholic Li- 
brary Association ? Those forming the cream of 
Catholic society to-day were at one time mem- 
bers of that worthy organization. The success 
of Catholic social work needs the unstinted co- 



THE PROSELYTIZERS 27 

operation of clergy as well as laity. The homely 
German rhyme, " Die Gheistlichen rathen und die 
Laien thaten," 1 should be the inspiring motive 
of such enterprises. The priest after all is the 
good shepherd who must take a special interest 
in the spiritual and corporal welfare of his flock. 
All plans for the moral and social uplift of his 
parish must be submitted to him for careful in- 
vestigation and approval before put into execu- 
tion. He must see to it that all entertainments 
given be of a refined and elevating character. 
Since the Catholic social settlement movement 
is professedly an auxiliary of the Church, spe- 
cial attention should be given to the moral char- 
acter of the workers. Only those remarkable 
for their piety, exemplary speech and conduct 
should be selected; otherwise their influence in 
the neighborhood will prove a curse instead of a 
blessing. 

4 The clergy advise and the laity execute. 



CHAPTER IV 

PASQUALINO 

PASQUALINO AMADEO was born on 
Easter Sunday in the congested district of 
the West Side Italian colony. The Amadeos 
were people of considerable means and stood 
high in the community. The father had the 
commercial instinct abnormally developed. 
Scarcely a branch of industry might be men- 
tioned in which he did not dabble. He conducted 
a small bank well patronized by his Calabrian 
paesani, dealt in real estate, had the agency of 
several steamship lines, and ran an employment 
bureau for the railroads. In addition to this he 
sold razors, revolvers, jewelry, musical instru- 
ments, prayer-books, suspiciously titled ro- 
mances, and home-made wine. From the con- 
glomeration of heterogeneous articles displayed 
in the windows, it seemed scarcely possible for 
any visitor to enter his establishment and escape 
without making a purchase, even were it only 
a postage stamp. He had most of his religion 
vested in his wife, who came quite regularly to 

28 



PASQUALINO . 29 

Mass. He had very little time for religious du- 
ties on account of his business. Besides, he held 
the office of secretary in several societies that al- 
ways managed to rival the Church by conducting 
their meetings Sunday morning. When the 
priest implored the officials of these organiza- 
tions to cease placing an obstacle to the people 
in the fulfilment of hearing Mass and change 
their meeting hour to the afternoon, they replied, 
it was impossible to change the meeting-hour. 
No business could be transacted then, as most of 
the members got drunk in the afternoon ! With 
Amadeo it was a case of choosing between the 
Church and the lodge, Jesus Christ and Barab- 
bas, and he never hesitated long in making his 
selection. Still, be it said to his credit that he 
always managed to hear Mass twice a year — 
on Palm Sunday and on the feast of San Rocco 
whose name he bore and for whom he professed 
great devotion. 

Nearly a month elapsed before the baptism of 
the child. The delay was occasioned by a squab- 
ble over the selection of the godparents. The 
mother wanted her brother, Giovanni Buonan- 
ima and his wife to stand for the child; but 
Amadeo was strongly in favor of a worthless 
character named Capostorto and his consort. 

" Zi Pre' will never permit that loafer to act 
as sponsor," said the mother. " Only a few 



30 MEMOIRS OF ZI PRE 

Sundays ago he spoke very emphatically about 
the care we should take in choosing persons for 
such an important office. ' Sponsors both in 
baptism and confirmation/ he said, ' contract a 
spiritual affinity or relationship not only with 
their godchild, but also with its parents. From 
that affinity arises a canonical impediment to 
marriage — ' " 

" Oh caspeta ! " roared Amadeo, " do you 
think that Capostorto would ever want to marry 
you in case I died ? " 

" I should say not, for it would not do him 
any good if he did," indignantly retorted Mrs. 
Amadeo. " Capostorto has already one wife 
whom he abandoned in the old country. I am 
simply telling you what the priest said. ' Spon- 
sors/ he declared, ' promise in the name of the 
child what the child would promise if it had the 
use of reason. They assume the obligation of 
instructing their godchild in its religious duties 
if the parents neglect to do so or die/ Hence 
neither infidels, nor heretics, nor public sinners, 
nor those ignorant of the rudiments of faith can 
be admitted. What an edifying godfather Cap- 
ostorto, member of the Giordano Bruno Club, 
wouM make! No, he shall never stand for a 
child of mine, even were the priest to allow him. 
Besides, I'll not have this criminal negligence on 
my conscience any longer. To defer baptism 



PASQUALINO 31 

for more than a week after the birth of the child, 
without grave reason, is universally regarded as 
a mortal sin." 

Amadeo was forced to capitulate. He acqui- 
esced in the selection of Buonanima as sponsor, 
and the following Sunday accompanied the chris- 
tening party to the church. As they entered the 
sacred edifice their ears were greeted by a 
rather inharmonious concert issuing from the 
lungs of a score of Adam's unhappy descendants 
impatiently waiting to be cleansed from the origi- 
nal stain. Amadeo pompously approached the 
priest and asked if his child could be baptized 
immediately, for he was in a great hurry, as peo- 
ple were waiting for him at home. The priest 
gently relieved him of the smouldering cigar he 
held in his hand and threw it out of the window. 

" Take off your hat and stay a while, Signor 
Amadeo," he said smilingly. " It isn't often 
that we are honored with a visit from you in the 
church. You must have patience. You cannot 
be in a greater hurry than the rest of these peo- 
ple." The priest then busied himself question- 
ing the sponsors as to the names and domiciles 
of the children, and whether any of them had 
already been baptized privately at home. 

"What is this child to be called?" he asked 
of a godmother holding a sturdy infant whose 
ponderous head seemed indicative of a future 



32 MEMOIRS OF ZI PRE' 

candidate for the mayor's office, or at least for 
a seat in the city council. 

" His parents want to call him Fiorino, or 
Little Flower," meekly replied the sponsor. 

" Not if I can help it," commented the priest. 
" The Roman Ritual directs us to see that ob- 
scene, fabulous, and ridiculous names, or those 
of heathen gods or of infidel men be not im- 
posed. Let him take the name of a saint whose 
example and patronage may benefit him in after 
life." 

" Where do the parents of this baby reside? " 
he asked of another sponsor. 

" They leev ona Clarka street," spoke up the 
father. 

" Well, then, you don't belong here," replied 
Zi Pre'. " Take him over to Padre Riccardo of 
the Incoronata. He is an excellent priest and 
needs all the support he can get. We are for- 
bidden to baptize children not belonging to our 
parish, unless they be in danger of death. From 
all appearances this youngster is destined to be- 
come a nonagenarian." The priest then pro- 
ceeded to give a brief explanation of the sacra- 
ment he was about to administer. 

" Baptism," he said, " is a sacrament which 
cleanses us from original sin, makes us Chris- 
tians, children of God, and heirs to the kingdom 
of heaven. Being first among the seven sacra- 



PASQUALINO 33 

ments, it is the door through which all must pass 
in order to enter eternal life. ' Unless a man 
be born again of water and the Holy Ghost, he 
cannot enter into the kingdom of God.' (John 

" Since baptism is absolutely necessary for sal- 
vation, the reception of it has been rendered most 
easy. While the pastor or any other priest dele- 
gated by him or the bishop is the lawful minister 
of this sacrament, in case of necessity, i. e., if 
the infant or adult be in danger of death, anyone 
having the use of reason, lay or cleric, Catholic 
or Protestant, Jew or infidel, or even atheist 
may validly baptize, provided he observe the 
form of baptism and has really the intention of 
doing what the Church does. 

" Whoever baptizes must pour water on the 
head of the person to be baptized, and say, while 
pouring it, ' / baptize thee in the name of the Fa- 
ther, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost! If 
a child has been baptized privately, this fact 
should be revealed to the priest when the child 
is brought to the church for the rest of the cere- 
monies. In case of doubt as to the validity of 
baptism, which often occurs when privately ad- 
ministered by a lay person and when converts are 
about to be admitted into the Church, baptism is 
administered conditionally. Like Confirmation 
and Holy Orders, Baptism can be received only 



34 MEMOIRS OF ZI PRE 

once, because each of these sacraments imprints 
upon the soul a spiritual seal that remains for- 
ever. There are three kinds of baptism: Bap- 
tism by water, already described; baptism of de- 
sire, which is an ardent wish to receive baptism 
and to do all that God has ordained for our salva- 
tion; baptism of blood, which is martyrdom, or 
the shedding of one's blood for the faith of 
Christ. In order to receive baptism worthily, 
persons of an age to learn must know and be- 
lieve the chief mysteries of Christian faith, and 
be sorry for their sins. Evidently no disposition 
is required in infants to receive this sacrament. 
Without their knowledge or co-operation they 
contracted original sin, and in a similar manner 
they are cleansed from its stain. Just as they 
are born and may inherit property without their 
knowledge or consent, so through baptism they 
become God's adopted children and heirs to His 
heavenly kingdom without any of the disposi- 
tions required in adults. We never baptize the 
children of Jews or infidels against the will of 
their parents, since that would be a violation of 
parental rights. We would, however, be justified, 
and even obliged in charity to baptize their chil- 
dren, if they were in proximate danger of death. 
In the solemn administration of baptism we em- 
ploy a great many prayers and ceremonies which 
are omitted in private baptism. 



PASQUALINO 35 

" What dost thou ask of the Church of God? " 
the priest demands of the candidate. 

" Faith/' the sponsors reply in the name of the 
child. 

"What doth faith bring thee to?" 

" Life everlasting." 

"If thou wilt enter into life, keep the com- 
mandments. Thou shalt love the Lord thy God 
with thy whole heart, with thy whole soul, with 
all thy mind, and thy neighbor as thyself." 

Breathing thrice in the child's face, he bids 
the unclean spirit depart and give place to the 
Holy Paraclete. He next makes the sign of the 
cross, the symbol of redemption upon the fore- 
head and breast of the child, and prays that by 
his future exemplary conduct he may become a 
temple of God. Then follows the imposition of 
hands, a custom dating back to Apostolic times. 
Some blessed salt is now placed in the child's 
mouth. Just as salt preserves food from cor- 
ruption, so it symbolizes the salutary effects of 
divine grace in preserving the soul from the cor- 
ruption of sin. The priest places the end of his 
stole upon the child's head, leading him, as it 
were, into the Church, and saying, " Enter into 
the temple of God that thou mayest have part 
with Christ, in life eternal." On the way to the 
font the sponsors recite the Creed and Our Fa- 
ther, as a profession of faith for the child. His 



36 MEMOIRS OF ZI PRE 

nostrils and ears are now touched with spittle — 
after our Lord's example, who thus restored 
sight to the blind man mentioned in the gospel. 
After making a triple renunciation of Satan, and 
all his works and pomps, the child is anointed 
with the oil of catechumens on the breast and 
between the shoulders. On the breast, that by 
the gift of the Holy Ghost, he may cast off error 
and ignorance and may receive the true faith, 
' for the just man liveth by faith ' ; on the shoul- 
ders, that by the grace of the Holy Spirit, he may 
shake off negligence and torpor, and engage in 
the performance of good works, ' for faith with- 
out works is dead.' After another declaration 
of faith the child is baptized, during which cere- 
mony the sponsors must either hold or at least 
touch the child. The crown of its head is now 
anointed with chrism, to signify his- union with 
the Church, the mystic body of Christ. 

A white veil is put on the infant's head, with 
the words : " Receive this white garment, which 
mayest thou carry without stain before the judg- 
ment seat of our Lord Jesus Christ that thou 
mayest have eternal life." A lighted taper is 
placed in the sponsor's hand, the priest saying: 
" Receive this burning light, and keep thy bap- 
tism so as to be without blame. Observe the 
commandments of God; that, when our Lord 
shall come to his nuptials, thou mayest meet Him 



PASQUALINO 37 

together with all the Saints and may est have life 
everlasting, and live for ever and ever. Amen. 
Go in peace, and the Lord be with you." 

While the priest was recording the names in 
the baptismal register, Amadeo came forward 
and handed him a big round silver dollar with the 
remark: " Ecco, Padre chisto per fuo incomodo; 
compriti un caffe." 1 A dollar always appeared 
unusually large to Amadeo when given to the 
support of the Church. He might easily have 
contributed half the amount necessary for its 
construction and never have missed the money. 
But when approached for a donation he deftly 
diverted the topic of conversation, and glibly 
spoke of his famous uncle, an archpriest in 
Calabria. " The people," he said, " invariably 
tried to secure him as preacher at every notable 
function." 

Zi Pre' visited Amadeo occasionally in the hope 
of inducing him to attend Mass, but in vain. 
The latter took refuge in the oft repeated story 
of his famous uncle whose biography the priest 
had learned by heart. Amadeo lived but a 
stone's throw from the church, and seemed to 
vindicate the truth of the adage, " the nearer the 
church the farther from God." 

".Signor Tightwaddo," said the priest, jok- 

1 This is for your trouble, Father ; buy yourself a cup 
of coffee. 



38 MEMOIRS OF ZI PRE 

ingly, to him one day : " your cognomen is really 
a misnomer. You ought to ask the County Clerk 
to change it." 

" What change would you suggest ? " he de- 
manded. " Should I take an American name? " 

" Oh, no," replied the priest. " Just call your- 
self Amadenaro, or Amadiavolo, for you seem 
to love money and the devil more than God." 



CHAPTER V 

EARLY TRAINING 

FORTUNATE, indeed, for Pasqualino, that 
his mother was piously inclined. She neu- 
tralized in a great measure by her example the 
less edifying conduct of her husband. He was 
left in undisputed possession of the bank and 
variegated emporium on the first floor where he 
fumed and vociferated to his heart's content 
during his wife's absence. His vocabulary usu- 
ally assumed a tinge of refinement, however, 
when she appeared upon the scene. She domi- 
nated the living quarters on the second floor, 
where she required him to keep a strict guard 
over his tongue on account of the children. She 
realized how strong in them is the imitative in- 
stinct. Seldom do they act independently, but 
do only what they see others doing. Having 
unbounded confidence in their parents, they re- 
gard everything said and done by them as right 
and good. Hence they will say and do the same 
in imitation of them. She had a profound hor- 
ror of giving scandal, and tried most earnestly 

39 



4 o MEMOIRS OF ZI PRE 

to imbue her consort with the same religious sen- 
timent. " Woe to him that shall scandalize any 
of these little ones/' she used to repeat to him; 
" it were better for him that a mill-stone should 
be hanged about his neck and that he should be 
drowned in the depth of the sea." How can we 
ever expect our darling boy to grow up virtuous, 
to become a credit and comfort to us in our de- 
clining years, if from his very cradle he has con- 
stantly before his eyes the demoralizing example 
of a profane, intemperate father, who tramples 
under foot the laws of both God and His 
church ?" Having graduated from an Italian 
convent, she was thoroughly grounded in her re- 
ligion. She understood the importance of train- 
ing Pasqualino from earliest infancy in the rudi- 
ments of faith. At the very first glimmering of 
intelligence she gave him this elementary instruc- 
tion plainly, seriously and patiently. We can- 
not be too simple in our language to children, or 
even to adults when there is a question of in- 
structing them in matters of religion. It is the 
method followed by our Lord Himself, whose 
parables were invariably drawn from the every- 
day happenings of life to illustrate most im- 
portant truths. He speaks of heavenly things 
in terms not fully expressive of their sublime 
dignity, but suited rather to our feeble mode of 
comprehension. Thus should we endeavor to in- 



EARLY TRAINING 41 

struct those entrusted to our care and pay heed 
that they really grasp our meaning, otherwise, 
as far as practical results are concerned, we 
might just as well address them in Sanskrit. 
Religious instruction should be given seriously. 
In our present state of fallen nature, there is an 
unfortunate tendency to trifle with things sa- 
cred. This irreverential giddiness is particu- 
larly noticeable in the young. But no matter 
how provokingly funny her husband might deem 
it, Mrs. Amadeo never laughed, nor seemed at 
all pleased when her young hopeful did or said 
anything, though it were ever so witty, which 
bordered on irreligion. She had always been 
taught to regard " the fear of the Lord as the 
beginning of wisdom/' and sought to impress that 
salutary fear upon the tender heart of her off- 
spring. She began by teaching him the sign 
of the cross. For a long time when she tried 
to show him off in company, he invariably disap- 
pointed her by making the symbol of our re- 
demption with his left hand, and it required 
painstaking and incessant repetitions to cure him 
of the habit. Patience finally triumphed. Rome 
wasn't built in a day. After the farmer has 
planted his corn, he doesn't expect immediately 
to see his field waving with a ripe and abundant 
crop of sixty bushels to the acre. He must pa- 
tiently let nature take her course for a consider- 



42 MEMOIRS OF ZI PRE' 

able time before he can know whether his labor 
will be fecund or fruitless. It is only after the 
lapse of months that he can hope to reap the re- 
ward of his industry. In cultivating the mind 
of Pasqualino she did not imagine that a plen- 
tiful harvest would spring up in a day. The 
growth of his body was slow and proceeded by 
insensible degrees. She did not wonder if his 
progress in knowledge and virtue was still slower. 
She was therefore on her guard against fret- 
fulness and impatience. 

Just as soon as his tiny lips were capable of 
articulating an intelligible sound, they were 
trained with heroic patience to repeat after her 
the Our Father, Hail Mary, and the Apostles' 
Creed. At the age of four, he would no more 
think of omitting his morning or night prayer 
than his breakfast or his supper, and he could 
recite the Ten Commandments without a single 
mistake. When he became big enough to sit 
at table with the rest of the family, it was his 
important function to say the grace both before 
and after meals. 

" Little boys," his mother said to him, " must 
not come to table like the cat to her saucer of 
milk, or like animals to the trough. Almighty 
God expects us to ask His blessing beforehand 
both upon us and upon what He has given us to 
eat, and to thank Him after we have finished 



EARLY TRAINING 43 

eating." She never allowed him wine or beer, 
or even tea or coffee. Milk, and, in fact, more 
frequently plain water, constituted his only bev- 
erage. Once when his chubby hand reached out 
and clinched his father's glass of wine, the lat- 
ter was inclined to humor him, but she promptly 
wrested it from his grasp with the warning 
" that it was bad for little boys." 

" But why isn't it also bad for papas ? " he de- 
manded. Later on in life he made the same 
query in regard to the omission of Holy Mass 
and the Sacraments, and his good mother found 
the question still more embarrassing to answer. 

She took great pains to impress upon him the 
thought of God's abiding presence. " God made 
us," she used to say to him, " in order that we 
may know, love, and serve Him in this life, and be 
happy with Him forever in the next life. He is 
always near us. In Him we live, move, and are. 
Our most secret thoughts are as clear to Him 
as the noonday sun. He sees and hears every- 
thing we do and say in the dark just the same as 
in the light. He keeps a strict account of all our 
thoughts, words, and deeds in the great book of 
life. Those who lead pure, good lives shall go 
to heaven when they die, and be happy with God 
forever. But lying, disobedient, wicked chil- 
dren shall never enter there. God shall drive 
them from His sacred presence forever into a 



44 MEMOIRS OF Zl PRE 

place of torment called Hell, where they shall al- 
ways be miserable and unhappy." As moral 
consciousness gradually developed, Almighty 
God, the Creator, Redeemer, and Benefactor of 
mankind, became as much a living reality in Pas- 
qualino's life as his own father. 

No sooner was he able to toddle than she 
marched him off every Sunday morning with his 
sister to the church where he took his place dur- 
ing the 9 o'clock Mass with the other tots perched 
like so many sparrows on the steps leading to 
the Communion rail. 

Pasqualino was inclined to be headstrong and 
needed correction betimes. His mother be- 
lieved in giving it to him, but judiciously. When- 
ever he showed signs of obstinacy or stubborn- 
ness, she promptly turned him over her knee and 
administered a few vigorous spanks that usu- 
ally brought him to his senses. She was care- 
ful to make her corrections neither too frequent 
nor too severe. Children, like metal, become 
hardened under continual hammering, which 
eventually leaves upon them little or no impres- 
sion. Care should be taken to make the punish- 
ment fit the crime. When the same chastise- 
ment is invariably given, the distinction between 
slight and grievous faults gradually disappears. 
Those intrusted with the training of youth should 
be able to distinguish between indiscretion and 



EARLY TRAINL 45 

malice. Children are always prone to trivial 
pranks which leave them as they grow up. 
u When I was a child." says the Apostle. u I 
spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I 
thought as a child : but when I became a man, I 
put away the things of a child. " Such failings 
must be often overlooked and i: would be most 
injudicious to be continually punishing children 
for them. But if the fault be immoral or indic- 
ative of a vicious disposition, such as telling lies, 
stealing, speaking improper words, disobedience 
or stubbornness — to overlook such delinquen- 
cies would be nothing short of criminal. 

Correction supposes that a child has adopted 
some wrong notions, or contracted some bad hab- 
its. The evil may be remedied in one of two 
ways. First, by showing what is wrong in the 
notions adopted, and, by contrasting it with :'::- 
opposite truth, to convince the judgment, and 
thus lead the young mind to correct itself. Bad 
habits may be broken in a similar manner by 
showing where::: they are wrong, and thus in- 
ducing the young mind to abandon them. But 
when this method fails, when the child sees what 
is right, and yet persists in doing wrong, such 
juvenile obstinacy can only be remedied by cor- 
poral punishment; and the parent who, in such 
cases, withholds it, destroys the child, according 
to the Scriptural admonition. u He that spareth 



46 MEMOIRS OF ZI PRE' 

the rod, hateth his son ; but he that loveth him, 
correcteth him betimes/' Chastisement should 
be regarded as an act of domestic justice, and 
should be administered not in a rage or passion, 
but with due decorum; otherwise it will defeat 
its own purpose. 

Amadeo was just the antithesis of his wife. 
His educational method was somewhat crude. 
He believed in raising children by the ear or hair. 
His presence among them usually lowered the 
temperature several degrees. The merry peal of 
song and laughter ceased. The frightened 
youngsters glided noiselessly, like phantoms, 
from the room. Or if they remained they spoke 
with bated breath, and could not look their som- 
bre parent in the face without being almost petri- 
fied with terror. At his approach even Pasqual- 
ino's tiny arms instinctively went up in self-de- 
fense to parry a prospective blow. 

When scarcely seven years of age an incident 
happened that he never forgot. One morning 
during his mother's absence he wandered into a 
neighboring fruit store, where he picked up a 
couple of apples and brought them home. While 
contentedly munching one of them at the door, he 
met his sister Concetta, to whom he offered the 
other. He was of a very generous disposition — 
a trait certainly not inherited from the paternal 
side of the house. 



EARLY TRAINING 47 

" Oh, Pasqualino ! What have you done ? " 
exclaimed the sister. " Father will flay you 
alive. That Sicilian grocer was down stairs a 
while ago, complaining to him that you had 
stolen fruit from his store." 

Just then the children heard the heavy tread 
of familiar footsteps on the stair and their faces 
blanched at the thought of the impending storm. 
Concetta slunk into the kitchen, where she busied 
herself with the dishes, while Pasqualino darted 
into his bedroom, where he knelt down and be- 
gan reciting Ave Marias with the greatest fervor. 
As the father entered, with a formidable strap in 
hand, he found the desperate criminal absorbed 
in prayer. The sight would have melted the 
heart of a savage to compassion. But Amadeo 
was no ordinary brute. " Come, strip off at 
once ! " he thundered. u The disgrace of har- 
boring a thief in my house is greater than I can 
bear." The little fellow reluctantly obeyed. 
While he rent the air with his agonizing shrieks 
as blow after blow descended upon his tender 
body, the mother returned. When she came 
within fifty yards of the house she instantly rec- 
ognized the piteous appeals of Pasqualino to his 
mamma to save him. Rushing frantically up 
stairs, she threw herself between her offspring 
and his assailant. Then that rigid disciplinarian 
did a thing in his frenzy that should have landed 



48 MEMOIRS OF ZI PRE' 

him in jail, or, still better, at the whipping post — 
he struck the poor, defenseless mother a savage 
blow, and departed. 

A few days later Zi Pre' visited the store, and 
noticed that Mrs. Amadeo had a very badly swol- 
len eye. "Why, what on earth happened to 
you ? " he asked. " You must have met with a 
terrible accident. Did you fall off a street car ? " 

" Oh, no," she replied with a melancholy smile, 
" E un piccolo regalo dal marito" (It is a little 
present from my husband.) 

" You see, Fadda," explained the latter in his 
broken English, " she getta me so excite when she 
butt in to sava da kid. Per Bacco, I make every- 
body understan' that I'm padrone in my own 
house. But I'm not like those mean guys what 
run for a knife or a gun. When I fight a woman, 
I alius usa da fist." 

" You are certainly a brave man," commented 
Zi Pre'. " Some afternoon you ought to take 
the whole family for an outing to Lincoln 
Park." 

"What for?" asked Amadeo, "to see the 
statue of Garibaldi ? " 

" Oh, no," rejoined the priest with evident dis- 
gust, " but to visit the Zoological Garden. It is 
much more instructive. I think it might do you 
good to watch the grizzly bears playing with 
their cubs." 



CHAPTER VI 

A MISNOMER FOR A SCHOOL 

"in>EF I taka de kids to Lincoln Park, eet 
l\y will be for to show de grande monu- 
ment of Giuseppe Garibaldi ! " exclaimed Ama- 
deo in an outburst of patriotism. 

" The money squandered on his statue, brass 
bands and pyrotechnics would benefit the Italian 
people far more if devoted to the erection of an 
Italian church, school, orphanage or hospital," 
rejoined the priest. 

" O, wat you got against heem?" demanded 
Amadeo. P W'y, las' week I read in Tribuna 
dat Zi Pre' was for giving the name of Garibaldi 
to public school on Poka Street." 

" I am afraid," commented the priest, " that 
the editor of the Tribuna couldn't tell the truth 
if he tried. Have you seen this week's issue of 
the paper ? Oh, here it is ! " he exclaimed, tak- 
ing it from the showcase and pointing to an 
article, which being vernacularized, ran as fol- 
lows: 

49 



50 MEMOIRS OF ZI PRE' 

THE WRATH OF GUARDIAN ANGEl/s PASTOR 

We learned from two Irish-American ladies 
whom we are ready to designate, that the old 
public school on W. Polk St. will be renamed 
after Garibaldi in compliance with a request 
made by the Rev. Pastor of Guardian Angel 
Church. Just because we published this news, 
with a few sympathetic remarks, the aforesaid 
clergyman published in the New World the fol- 
lowing letter which we shall translate to the best 
of our ability. 

NOT AFTER GARIBALDI 

According to recent newspaper reports, the 
Board of Education has decided to replace the old 
Polk Street school with a new one, which will 
bear the name of Giuseppe Garibaldi. We have 
in Chicago a weekly Italian sheet with the pic- 
ture of an ocean liner extending across the top 
of the front page. It is bedecked with all the 
naval flags of the universe and sails under the 
bombastic title of Tribuna Transatlantic*!. The 
most appropriate haven for this literary mud 
scow is the waste basket. The appellation — 
newspaper — is really a misnomer. For, what- 
ever notable event may accidentally break into 
its columns, invariably appears too late to have 
any value as a news item. The editor claims to 



A MISNOMER FOR A SCHOOL 51 

be anticlerical, but not antireligious — rather a 
subtle distinction without any practical differ- 
ence. When accused by me of attacking the 
Church's doctrines, he emphatically denounced 
the accusation as a " cunning Jesuitical trick," 
" a low down calumny." Verily this man pro- 
testeth too much. Scarcely a year ago this 
" anticlerical but not antireligious " scribe 
printed an article in which he tried to show that 
the Church, instead of deriving the seven sacra- 
ments from her Divine Founder, pilfered them 
from pagan ceremonies prevailing among the 
idolators of India. He compared each sacra- 
ment with a supposedly corresponding pagan 
rite, leaving the reader to infer that there ex- 
isted the most perfect concordance. He cul- 
minated his blasphemous diatribe by asserting 
that Protestants were far more reasonable in re- 
gard to the Holy Eucharist than Catholics, for, 
unlike them, they didn't pretend to devour a 
full-grown man, body and bones, hair, teeth and 
beard, but simply claimed to eat a piece of bread 
in memory of him. At the time of its appear- 
ance, I put this diabolical travesty on file for 
future reference. And this is the man who 
proffered his services as Sunday School teacher 
at the opening of Guardian Angel Mission ! 

Last week, in a moment of irrepressible mirth 
and utter disregard for truth, our anticlerical 



52 MEMOIRS OF ZI PRE' 

neighbor asserted that through the influence of 
Guardian Angel's Pastor, the new school on Polk 
Street would be named after the immortal 
hero of two hemispheres — r Giuseppe Garibaldi. 
What a giggle-provoking lie that was! Every 
Catholic knows that a priest would just as soon 
have the school named after Beelzebub, Bob In- 
gersol or Judas Iscariot. 

A few years ago we succeeded in having the 
school diagonally across from the Guardian 
Angel Church, named after Dante, the Shake- 
speare of Italy. This compliment extended to 
the Italian colony has not satisfied the inordinate 
cravings of our anticlerical journalist. Was it 
perhaps the thought of Dante's Inferno that 
smote his conscience, and too forcibly reminded 
him of what he must inevitably expect hereafter, 
unless he repent of his futile attacks upon the 
Church? We don't know. We, however, do 
know, that he is at present making gigantic ef- 
forts to honor the name of one whom all true 
Catholics regard as the antithesis of Dante. 
Since we protested against naming the new Polk 
Street school after an ignorant bushwhacker, 
notorious for his demoniac hatred of the Pope, 
as such a procedure would insult the entire Cath- 
olic population, irrespective of nationality, our 
anticlerical friend is frantic. The poor man has 
an acute case of Irish, Jesuit and Popephobia. 



A MISNOMER FOR A SCHOOL 53 

Listen to this ebullition of aggressive patriot- 
ism: 

" So the Italian must not praise Garibaldi who 
represents the ideal of mother country united 
and free? Ah, must we Italians refuse to cher- 
ish in our hearts one of the most divine senti- 
ments which God has implanted there — the love 
of mother country? Yes, gentlemen, in order 
to please a few fanatical Irishmen, must we ig- 
nore those who, from Dante down to the present 
day, have desired the freedom of their native 
land, who have given their energy, aye, and 
their heart's blood to liberate it from foreign, 
domestic, and, above all, from Papal tyranny? 
Is, perhaps, love of country an exclusively Irish 
prerogative? Have they alone the right to hate 
such as Cromwell, Queen Mary (?) and other 
oppressors of their native country? ... If 
they imagine that they have succeeded in dop- 
ing the patriotism of Chicago Italians with soci- 
eties of Saints and Madonnas, sodalities, par- 
ishes, Catholic schools, the acquisition of influ- 
ential friends, etc., we assure them that they are 
very much mistaken." 

Let us briefly analyze these patriotic senti- 
ments. A cursory glance at the Tribunals argu- 
ment clearly shows the editor's anxiety to jus- 
tify his hatred of the Pope. Here it is in a nut- 
shell: The Italians have just as much right as 



54 MEMOIRS OF ZI PRE' 

the Irish to hate the tyrants of their country; 
and since the Pope has always been Italy's 
greatest tyrant; therefore the Italians have the 
right to hate him, just as the Irish are justified 
in hating Cromwell and other oppressors of Ire- 
land ! When we hear men like the editor of the 
Tribuna ranting about papal tyranny we cannot 
help recalling yEsop's fable of the ungrateful 
serpent that stung its benefactor. 

The Papacy has been the greatest benefactor 
the Italian people ever had. During the interval 
in which the Popes were exiled and resided in 
Avignon, grass grew in the streets of Rome. 
What wonderful blessings resulted from the 
Italian revolution? National bankruptcy, star- 
vation, and the forced emigration of the inhabit- 
ants. Behold the triple legacy which the Tri- 
bunals " ideal of mother country, united and 
free," has bequeathed to posterity! It is an in- 
heritance over which the natives of Southern 
Italy must grow enthusiastic. Neither the 
Irish nor anyone else has the right to hate his 
enemies. Christ commands us to love them, to 
do good to those who hate and persecute us. 
We must hate pernicious principles and actions, 
but persons? never! 

Nobody pretends that the Irish have a monop- 
oly of patriotism. Of course they love their 
native land, but they love their God and their 



A MISNOMER FOR A SCHOOL 55 

religion more. Their special virtue, with which 
the editor of the Tribuna might imbue his anti- 
clerical compatriots, is to build and support 
churches, orphanages and schools, before under- 
taking to name them. A vigorous campaign is 
just now being conducted to embellish public 
school nomenclature with the names of Gari- 
baldi and three defunct saloonkeepers! In 
naming an object care should be taken that a 
certain analogy exist between its nature or pur- 
pose and the title it receives. A school is a 
building in which teachers are engaged in the 
peaceful pursuit of imparting elementary in- 
struction to the young. Were they institutions 
in which pupils are initiated in the lucrative art 
of extracting malt beverages from potatoes, 
corn, and the Lord only knows from what other 
products, or, in wielding the sword instead of 
the pen, why, then, of course, Garibaldi, Gam- 
brinus or the name of the individual who brewed 
the beer that made the town north of us famous, 
would answer perfectly. Since the curriculum 
of studies in the public schools is restricted to 
the three " R's," common sense and the eternal 
fitness of things dictate that in the selection of 
names we ought to choose from those distin- 
guished in the realm of literature, science and 
arts that require brain rather than brawn. 
Were there question of bestowing appropriate 



56 MEMOIRS OF ZI PRE' 

titles upon military academies, it would be in- 
deed proper to name them after warriors whose 
military genius and exploits have elicited the 
world's admiration. It is not, however, a case 
of naming soldiers' barracks, breweries, or dis- 
tilleries, but simply grammar schools. If the 
latter must be named after generals and states- 
men, why not exhaust, first of all, the long list 
of Americans? There is a tendency among 
cheap politicians, for the selfish purpose of se- 
curing votes, to utilize both schools and parks 
in perpetuating the memory of anyone but a 
native hero. The city parks are adorned with 
the monuments of foreign celebrities, but where 
in this great western metropolis is there a statue 
to the memory of him who was " first in war, 
first in peace, first in the hearts of his country- 
men " — the immortal George Washington? It 
seems that our home products, like the prophets 
of old, are without honor in their own country. 
Why should the name of the Polk Street school 
be changed to that of Garibaldi? Was he dis- 
tinguished for his learning? Where can we find 
a copy of his literary productions? Who was 
this wonderful character in whose behalf a peti- 
tion signed by all the Italian Masons and in- 
fidels of Chicago is before the Board of Educa- 
tion? 

Garibaldi was simply a red-shirted revolution- 






A MISNOMER FOR A SCHOOL 57 

ist by profession, just like those abounding in 
Central and South America. Had he lived in 
the United States, his proper place would have 
been, not among the Unionists, but among the 
rebels. To fight against rebellion in defense of 
lawful authority and established government 
would have been quite a novelty to him and con- 
trary to his native instincts. Cavour said of 
him : " Garibaldi wants to perpetuate the revo- 
lution; we wish to terminate it." If the Board 
desires to place the school under the auspices of 
a rebel type, why not patronize home talent, and 
call it Jeff Davis or Sitting Bull? These have 
at least the advantages of being native Ameri- 
cans. What would school children find in Gari- 
baldi worthy of imitation? A spirit of obedi- 
ence? He claimed that the ambition of his life 
was " to see the last king strung up by the en- 
trails of the last priest." Love of study? He 
had little or no education, and despised it in 
others. He preferred instinct to study, and the 
happy inspirations of ignorance to the calcula- 
tions of science. Candor? At heart he was a 
republican, but without the courage of his con- 
victions. He became a willing tool in the hands 
of Mazzini and other schemers to build up the 
present monarchy. What can citizens of a re- 
public find commendable in such a despicable 
character as to name a school after him? 






X 



58 MEMOIRS OF ZI PRE' 

If the Board of Education really wishes to 
honor the Italian people, let the school be called 
after Manzoni, whose homestead in Milan has 
been converted into a national monument. Sir 
Walter Scott did not hesitate to style his " Be- 
trothed " the greatest novel ever written. Then 
there is Petrarca, Ariosto, Alfieri, Tasso, Silvio 
Pellico, and a galaxy of others whose works stand 
preeminent in the world's literature, and whose 
names might appropriately adorn the greatest 
shrines of learning throughout the country. 

As American citizens, we love our country. 
Because of our patriotism, we see no reason 
why, in re-naming the Polk Street school, the 
distinguished heroes of this glorious republic 
should be ignored in order to honor a foreign 
revolutionist in whose antagonism to the Church, 
we, as American Catholics, certainly find noth- 
ing to admire. 



The anticlerical journal which labored so 
ardently to get a Chicago school named after 
the notorious Italian bushwhacker was subse- 
quently invited to paste a whole edition over the 
wounds of its defeat. The Board of Educa- 
tion very wisely ignored the much-signed peti- 
tion and named the school after an American. 



A MISNOMER FOR A SCHOOL 59 

Thus the despoiler of St. Peter's Patrimony re- 
ceived quite a jolt in the great city of Chicago. 
And it was well. While he lived he took more 
interest in revolution than he did in education. 



CHAPTER VII 

CONFIRMATION 

PASQUALINO was a lad of the Southern 
Italian type, beautiful as a picture and 
lively as a cricket. He had a classically shaped 
head profusely covered with a wealth of jet 
black curly hair. His big brown liquid eyes 
fairly scintillated, and, in striking contrast to 
the multitude of ansemic looking children of the 
neighborhood, his olive tinted complexion had 
a warm rich glow indicative of perfect health 
and proper nourishment. 

His mother prepared him most carefully for 
his first confession just as soon as he began to 
realize the meaning of mortal sin. He had been 
regularly attending the instructions and she was 
overjoyed when he came bounding into her 
room one day with the announcement that he 
had passed successfully the examination for 
First Communion and Confirmation. " But you 
are altogether too young, my child/' she ex- 
claimed. " You had better wait for another 
year at least, and then you will be better pre- 

60 



CONFIRMATION 61 

pared." She was somewhat scrupulous about 
letting him approach Holy Communion on ac- 
count of his tender age. He had not yet reached 
his ninth birthday. '* Why, Father," she said 
to the priest next morning, " I am really afraid 
to let Pasqualino go to Holy Communion with 
the others, as it might expose the Blessed Sacra- 
ment to irreverence." 

" He knows a great deal more about it than 
the others in his class," replied the priest. 
' We must not be more solicitous about the in- 
terests of God's glory than God Himself. Dur- 
ing His earthly sojourn our Divine Redeemer 
proved by act as well as word that it was His 
delight to be with the children of men. i Suffer 
little children/ He said, ' to come unto me, and 
forbid them not; for of such is the kingdom of 
heaven/ 5 He allayed her fears by assuring her 
that there was no valid reason for preventing 
the lambs of the flock from partaking of the 
Bread of Life, once they reached the age of dis- 
cretion. " When they have attained the degree of 
intelligence necessary to distinguish the Holy 
Eucharist from common material bread, or as 
the Apostle expresses it, ' of discerning the body 
of the Lord/ and have sufficient love in their 
innocent hearts to form the desire of receiving 
Him, nothing more is required. Their tender 
minds and hearts are ready. From that time on 



62 MEMOIRS OF ZI PRE' 

they have not only the right, but also the obliga- 
tion to approach the Eucharistic Table. There 
is but one obstacle that might prevent them ; it is 
mortal sin." 

" But do you think that he will receive 
worthily ? " she asked. 

" Who," replied the priest, " is worthy to re- 
ceive the Lord and Author of life? We do not 
approach Holy Communion because we are 
worthy and good, but because God is; not be- 
cause we deserve it, but because we need it. 
Nobody waits to become warm before approach- 
ing the fire, otherwise he would remain cold a 
long while and eventually freeze. That is why 
the primitive Christians communicated every 
day, ' continuing daily with one accord in the 
temple, and breaking bread from house to house/ 
If frequent communion does not inflame our 
hearts with the love of God, nothing else will. 
Now that Pasqualino has come to the use of 
reason, the command, 'Unless you eat the flesh 
of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you 
shall have no life in you/ is just as binding upon 
him, as upon you. He is obliged, just the same 
as an adult, to hear Mass on Sundays and holi- 
days, to observe the days of abstinence, and to 
make his Easter duty." 

Mrs. Amadeo left the rectory with the firm 
resolution that if her offspring failed to obey 






CONFIRMATION 63 

these precepts, it would not be through any fault 
of his mother. 

The coming of the Archbishop to administer 
Confirmation invariably drew an immense crowd. 
There was a class of about 500 to confirm, and 
in it figured prominently Pasqualino. With few 
exceptions every candidate was accompanied by 
a sponsor. This circumstance, together with the 
presence of fond parents anxious to behold the 
enlistment of their offspring in the Lord's army, 
produced quite a multitude. The church being 
too small to accommodate the crowd, two cere- 
monies became imperative. As soon as a por- 
tion of the throng filled the sacred edifice the 
doors were locked and guarded. After the de- 
parture of the first division through the vestry, 
the portals were again thrown open and the bal- 
ance of the class were allowed to enter. By the 
time the forehead of the last candidate had been 
signed with holy chrism, the Archbishop was 
pretty well exhausted. He had perspired pro- 
fusely. His rochet was wringing wet, and his 
forehead, streaked with red from the lining of 
his miter. But in spite of the fatigue, he gave 
the children a brief, practical instruction on the 
nature and effects of Confirmation, as well as 
on the duty of co-operating with the graces 
which they had received. He said in part: 

" My Dear Children : When our Lord was 



64 MEMOIRS OF ZI PRE' 

about to ascend into heaven, the Apostles were 
very sad at the thought of His departure. But 
He consoled them, promising to send the Holy 
Ghost, or Paraclete, which means Comforter, 
Consoler. He, the Holy Spirit of truth, would 
abide with them forever to guide them in the 
way of holiness and truth. Immediately after 
our Savior's ascension into heaven, the Apostles 
returned to Jerusalem where they remained for 
ten days in prayer and recollection, waiting until 
the Holy Ghost came down upon them in the 
form of fiery tongues. This afternoon, you re- 
ceived the same Holy Spirit of God, the Third 
Person of the Blessed Trinity, in the sacrament 
of Confirmation, in order to make you strong 
and perfect Christians, and soldiers of Jesus 
Christ. This sacrament is called by various 
names. The Italians call it la Cresima, or 
Chrism, because the forehead of the person to 
be confirmed is anointed with holy chrism. 
Sometimes it is designated as the ' imposition or 
laying on of hands/ because the bishop extends 
his hands over those whom he confirms. It is 
more generally called Confirmation, because it 
confirms or strengthens the soul with divine 
grace. In the Acts of the Apostles, Chapter 
VIII, we read that after the Samaritan con- 
verts had been baptized by Philip the deacon, 
' they sent to them Peter and John, who, when 



CONFIRMATION 65 

they were come, prayed for them that they might 
receive the Holy Ghost ; for He was not yet come 
upon any of them . . . then they laid their hands 
on them, and they received the Holy Ghost.' 
In the XIX chapter it is related that when Paul 
came to Ephesus and found certain disciples, he 
asked them : ' Have you received the Holy 
Ghost, since you believed ? ' But they said : 
' We have not so much as heard whether there 
be a Holy Ghost . . . And when Paul had im- 
posed his hands on them, the Holy Ghost came 
upon them, and they spoke with tongues and 
prophesied.' From these passages of Holy Writ 
we infer that Confirmation has all the necessary 
elements of a true sacrament, viz. : An outward 
sign instituted by Christ, and giving grace. The 
anointing of the forehead and the words pro- 
nounced at the same time by the Bishop consti- 
tute an outward sign visible to all. This out- 
ward sign practiced by the Apostles upon the 
newly baptised is productive of grace, for it is 
indicated as the instrumental cause of the de- 
scent of the Holy Ghost, the Lord and Author 
of grace. ' Then they laid their hands on them 
and they received the Holy Ghost.' This is ad- 
mirably confirmed by the verse immediately fol- 
lowing, because there it is recorded that ' When 
Simon (the magician) saw that by the imposi- 
tion of the Apostles' hands, the Holy Ghost was 



66 MEMOIRS OP Zl PRE' 

given, he offered them money, saying: Give me 
also this power that on whomsoever I shall lay 
my hands, he may receive the Holy Ghost.' 
Simon made no mistake in acknowledging the 
Apostolic power of imparting grace through the 
imposition of hands, but he was deceived in 
thinking that such power could be purchased 
with money. Hence St. Peter reproved him, 
saying : ' Keep thy money to thyself to perish 
with thee, because thou hast thought that the gift 
of God may be purchased with money.' This 
outward sign must have been divinely instituted 
and employed by the Apostles at the express 
command of Christ. They certainly had not the 
power of originating an outward sign productive 
of grace. They in fact declared that they were 
not ' the authors, but the dispensers of the mys- 
teries of God.' " 

The so-called reformers did not hesitate to 
repudiate the sacrament of confirmation on the 
ground that its institution could not be clearly 
proved from Scripture. Calvin was very bitter 
and blasphemous in its denunciation. In the 
Lutheran churches confirmation is an examina- 
tion in Christian doctrine of a candidate and a 
renewal of his profession of faith which had 
been made for him by godparents at the time of 
his baptism. The Episcopalians retain the name 
of confirmation, but nothing more. Contrary to 



CONFIRMATION 67 

the practice of all antiquity they mutilate the rite 
by omitting the unction with chrism. In fact, 
they are careful to remind us that the rite ad- 
ministered by them has no sacramental efficacy 
whatever. 

Confirmation, or the rite of imparting the 
Holy Ghost, cannot be regarded as an extraor- 
dinary gift conferred upon the Apostles, and 
which was to cease with their death. No 
grounds for any such assertion can be found 
either in the Bible or in the teachings of the 
Church. Confirmation, which was usually ad- 
ministered to the catechumens immediately after 
baptism, formed as regular a part of the Apos- 
tolic ministry as preaching, baptizing, ordaining, 
etc. Hence the lawful successors of the 
Apostles, viz.: the Bishops of the Catholic 
Church, have the same right to confirm as they 
have to preach, to baptize, to ordain, or to exer- 
cise any other inherited apostolic function. 

Confirmation is not absolutely necessary for 
salvation the same as baptism. Yet for those 
who have come to the use of reason, it is re- 
quired by divine as well as Church law. God 
wants us to fortify ourselves with all the spiritual 
helps needed for the attainment of our last end, 
and the catechism declares that it is a sin to neg- 
lect confirmation especially in these evil days 
when faith and morals are exposed to so many 



68 MEMOIRS OF ZI PRE' 

and such violent temptations. Those having the 
opportunity to receive this sacrament of strength, 
and failing to do so, resemble soldiers without 
weapons in time of battle. They have little 
chance of victory over their passions. 

Confirmation, like Baptism and Holy Orders, 
can only be received once. These three sacra- 
ments imprint upon the soul an indelible char- 
acter, a spiritual seal which remains even after 
death for the honor and glory of those who are 
saved, but for the shame, confusion and punish- 
ment of those who are lost. Baptism makes us 
the children, Confirmation the soldiers, Holy 
Orders the priests of God. A child may rebel 
against his parents and run away from home. 
But it doesn't matter how fast or how far he 
runs, he will always remain the son of his father. 
A soldier, too, may become a traitor and abandon 
his colors, but he is still a member of the army. 
If caught, he will be tried and punished as a de- 
serter. Those abandoning the regular army 
may elude pursuit. They may change their 
name and lose themselves in a large city, or run 
away to a distant country. But for those de- 
serting the Lord's army there is absolutely no 
immunity. It is utterly impossible for them to 
escape. Whatever character we have borne here, 
either as children, soldiers, or priests of God, in 
the same role we shall appear before His judg- 



CONFIRMATION 69 

ment seat. We shall be rewarded or punished 
according to our merits. 

Those confirmed by the Apostles usually mani- 
fested the presence of the Holy Ghost through 
the gift of tongues, miracles and prophecy. We 
don't expect the Holy Spirit to produce in you 
such prodigies. Those extraordinary graces 
have been granted at different times to apostolic 
missionaries by the Holy Spirit who gives to each 
that measure of grace enabling him to accom- 
plish what God expects of him. " Just as the 
sapling," says St, Gregory, " is daily watered by 
the gardener who loosens the earth about its 
roots, so that the sun and moisture may nourish 
them, until they have taken deep root and no 
longer require any special care; so the Church 
in her infancy needed to be nourished by the 
miraculous power of God. But after the Church 
had taken root in the hearts of the people and 
spread her branches over the face of the earth, 
God left her to the ordinary agencies of His 
providence." 

We expect that the Holy Ghost whom you 
have received will make you speak the language 
of God. Your conversation in future will be 
holy. You will avoid the profane language of 
the world, the language of anger, deceit, lying, 
slander, impurity. Henceforth you must speak 
a tongue that is new and unknown to the chil- 



70 MEMOIRS OF ZI PRE 

dren of the world. You must show by your con- 
duct that the Holy Spirit abides in you and 
speaks through you, that you are really His liv- 
ing temples. If you have not received the gift 
of tongues as did the primitive Christians, you 
must show at least that you have received some- 
thing far more excellent — the gift of making 
proper use of your own tongue. 

You have received, moreover, the gift of forti- 
tude or strength to enable you to do the will of 
God in all things. You were given a slight blow 
on the cheek to remind you that you must be 
ready to suffer everything, even death for the 
sake of Christ. The Crusaders were knighted 
in a similar manner. According to the ancient 
ceremonial, the Bishop gave those defenders of 
the faith a slight blow with a sword which he 
presented to them, and they arose knights. 
After anointing your foreheads with holy chrism, 
he also gives you a slight blow to remind you 
that you have become knights, warriors of Christ, 
and that you must combat for His glory. Of 
course you shall not be called upon to shed your 
blood for your faith, as were the early martyrs. 
Those dreadful persecutions are not likely to be 
repeated. But you shall have other struggles to 
endure against the world, the flesh, and the devil 
" who goeth about like a roaring lion seeking 
whom he may devour." You may encounter 



CONFIRMATION 71 

persons of little or no religion, " wolves dressed 
in sheep's clothing," who will try to rob you of 
your faith. This very neighborhood in which 
you live is swarming with them. Against their 
impious attacks you must show a courage worthy 
the soldiers of Jesus Christ. It is your duty to 
uphold the interests and glory of your Master. 
What boy would allow anyone to speak con- 
temptuously of his parents? And how could 
you allow any scoffer to insult Christ and His 
Church, or to ridicule devotion to His Blessed 
Mother? Never be influenced by human re- 
spect which prevents weak characters from 
professing their faith. Never omit your morn- 
ing or night prayers. Come promptly to Mass 
on Sundays and Holidays, and approach the sac- 
raments regularly. Above all, avoid the occa- 
sions of sin. You may find stumbling blocks to 
the practice of virtue and religion even among 
your relatives whose scandalous conduct may be 
a constant invitation to wickedness. Pray for 
their conversion. No matter to which side you 
turn, you may see evil applauded and good de- 
rided. Those will be your tyrants and perse- 
cutors. But the graces received this day in Con- 
firmation will enable you to resist and triumph. 



CHAPTER VIII 

SCHOOL DAYS 

AFTER considerable family debate it was 
decided to let Pasqualino attend the pa- 
rochial school where the good Sisters were cer- 
tain to exert upon him a refining influence. He 
soon gave evidence of remarkable talent. His 
desire to learn, to see whatever was going on, 
and especially to ply people with questions, was 
so insistent, that his father often implored him 
for the love of San Sebastiano or the Madonna 
to keep his mouth shut and let people have a 
chance to speak of more important matters. He 
gradually became persona non grata iir the busi- 
ness section of the Amadeo household, and when- 
ever appearing there, was usually invited to de- 
part. He was a walking interrogation point, and 
the father vastly preferred to sell steerage tick- 
ets, and make out money orders than to fatigue 
his brain answering childish questions. " The 
mania which that boy has for talking," he ex- 
claimed, " convinces me that he will eventually 
become either a great lawyer or a great nuisance. 

72 



SCHOOL DAYS 73 

In fact, he is the latter already." But in spite 
of his gruff exterior he began to soften towards 
the lad whom he had once so inhumanly chas- 
tised, and decided to give him the best education 
available. At the age of twelve Pasqualino en- 
tered the preparatory course of a Catholic col- 
lege and for three successive years easily led his 
class in all the branches. He manifested a spe- 
cial predilection for reading and at times became 
so absorbed in the perusal of a book as to forget 
the bell for meals. In all the college plays he 
invariably took a leading part. Gifted with a 
tenacious memory and a talent for elocution, his 
declamatory efforts usually elicited great ap- 
plause. Each year of his college course he car- 
ried off the gold medal for Christian doctrine. 
In class he never failed to importune the pro- 
fessor for the explanation of any difficulty he did 
not comprehend. 

A two weeks' mission was conducted one sea- 
son in the church, and it left upon Pasqualino 
an indelible impression. The religious exercises 
were conducted in true Italian style. On a Sun- 
day morning after the first gospel of the High 
Mass, the pastor bearing a large crucifix, and 
accompanied by acolytes, met the Missionary 
Fathers at the church door. The procession 
chanting psalms marched slowly up the middle 
aisle to the main altar. The pastor presented 



74 MEMOIRS OF ZI PRE' 

the crucifix to the missioners who were formally 
given charge of the congregation. The people 
were exhorted to take advantage of the graces 
afforded them during the mission and to attend 
regularly its various exercises. The admonition 
was hardly needed, for each evening every seat 
was taken fully an hour before the service's be- 
gan. In fact one Sunday night that the Fire De- 
partment came over hurriedly in response to a 
false alarm turned in by an hysterical female, 
so dense was the throng both within and without 
the church, that the Fire Marshal wrote a curt 
note to the pastor the next day informing him 
that if he ever allowed his church to be over- 
crowded again, he would simply notify the Chief 
of Police to issue a warrant for his arrest. A 
characteristic feature of the mission and which 
held the attention of Pasqualino far more than 
the most elaborate sermon, was the dialogue be- 
tween the preceptor and pupil. This method of 
imparting instruction is as old as the hills and 
exceedingly popular among the Southern Ital- 
ians. The questions and answers of the contro- 
versial subjects treated were followed by Pas- 
qualino most minutely, so that afterwards he 
was able to repeat the entire dialogue almost 
verbatim. A novel feature of the mission, re- 
calling the conduct of the primitive Christians 
who brought their books of necromancy to be 



SCHOOL DAYS 75 

burned by the Apostles, was the combustion of 
anti-catholic literature in the church yard. A 
waste basket was filled with spurious editions of 
the Bible and slanderous pamphlets which a few 
misguiding zealots had distributed among the 
people. News of this impending event spread 
rapidly and created great consternation among 
the evangelicals. About an hour before the cere- 
mony one of them came to the basement of the 
church. He was eyed suspiciously by a group 
of altar boys. " Oh, look who is here ! " whis- 
pered one. " That fellow comes from the Tay- 
lor Street Mission. I have often seen him gad- 
ding about the street corners on Sunday, trying 
to coax children into the Bible class." 

" I admire his nerve," commented Pasqualino. 
" I wonder what the Dickens brings him here." 
Then approaching the new comer, he addressed 
him : " Excuse me, Mister, is there anything I 
can do for you? Do you want that book given 
to the priest?" he added, pointing to the Bible 
which the evangelist carried under his arm. 
" No," replied the latter, " but I would like very 
much to speak to him." The boys made a futile 
effort to repress an irrepressible giggle. Just 
then Zi Pre 5 entered the room on his way to the 
sacristy and the giggling ceased. " Just a mo- 
ment," said the evangelist, stopping him. " If 
you can convince me that my bible is not the 



76 MEMOIRS OF ZI PRE' 

Word of God, I will let you have it to be burned 
along with the others. " 

" If your bible," said the priest, " has the ap- 
proval of the Catholic Church, it is authentic. 
If it lacks that sanction, it must be spurious. I 
haven't time to examine it now." 

" Well," insisted the evangelist, " I claim that 
it is the word of God just the same as the Catholic 
Bible. There is no difference between them." 

" Your claiming doesn't make it so," responded 
the priest. " The word of God doesn't consist 
in mere letters, whether written or printed, but 
in the true sense of it. A false interpretation 
can turn the word of God into the word of man, 
or even into the word of the devil who quoted 
Scripture rather fluently to our Savior, when 
tempting Him in the desert. In itself the Bible 
is a dead letter. It cannot talk or explain itself. 
Without an infallible teaching authority to inter- 
pret its true meaning, what good can it do us? 
Here, Pasqualino, conduct this gentleman to the 
church, and give him a good seat toward the 
front where he can clearly hear the Missioner." 
The evangelist followed Pasqualino into the 
church, while the priest proceeded to the bap- 
tistery. The missioner prefaced the bonfire with 
a forcible sermon on the authenticity of the 
Scriptures. " The Catholic Church," he said, 
" the divinely appointed guardian of God's mes- 



SCHOOL DAYS 77 

sage to mankind, cannot tolerate spurious edi- 
tions of His written word, any more than the 
government can connive at the circulation of 
counterfeit bills. Our separated brethren pre- 
tend to discover no essential difference between 
the Catholic and Protestant version of Scripture, 
although they regard seven books of the Old 
Testament as apocryphal. Strange inconsist- 
ency! The books which they reject have abso- 
lutely the same sanction as those which they ac- 
cept — the sanction of the Catholic Church, with- 
out whose authority St. Augustine declared : ' I 
would not believe the Gospel/ The craze for 
scattering bibles broadcast over the face of the 
earth, is a most potent cause of the growing ir- 
reverence and disbelief in its contents. Cheap 
bibles have been used for gun wadding and even 
more ignoble purposes by the very people upon 
whom they have been foisted. This indiscrim- 
inate distribution of biblical literature is design- 
edly made by ignorant Gospel peddlers so that 
they may present lengthy and glowing accounts 
of their proselytizing labor to interested employ- 
ers. We have encountered individuals simple 
minded enough to believe that the first edition 
of the Bible, after the invention of the printing 
press, was published by Martin Luther! As a 
matter of historical fact no less than fifty-six 
editions of the Sacred Book had appeared in 



78 MEMOIRS OF ZI PRE' 

Europe long before the birth of the famous 
heresiarch. Another popular fallacy is that the 
Church discourages the reading of the Bible 
among her members, as it might make them Prot- 
estants. Strange that it made Catholics of Man- 
ning, Newman, Faber, and a host of others! 
Persons afflicted with this delusion might profit- 
ably peruse the preface of the first Catholic Bible 
that they happen to run across. They will find 
in it a congratulatory letter from Pius VI to 
Archbishop Martini of Florence who had just 
completed a translation of the Bible into Italian. 
The pontifif indicates the benefits which the faith- 
ful may reap by piously reading the Holy Scrip- 
tures with explanatory notes in their mother 
tongue. True, in the days of religious turmoil 
when heretics sought to fill the sacred text with 
interpolations of their erroneous doctrines, thus 
wresting the words of Scripture to their own 
destruction, restrictions were placed on the cir- 
culation and reading of the Bible. The Church 
is its divinely appointed custodian. Once we re- 
pudiate her teaching authority, we cannot be 
certain of its authenticity, and nothing remains 
for us but to be ' tossed to and fro, and carried 
about with every wind of doctrine/ " 

Pasqualino's home surroundings were any- 
thing but attractive. The neighborhood had un- 
dergone little or no change from the time of the 



SCHOOL DAYS 79 

great Chicago fire in 1871. The same old shan- 
ties erected then, were beginning to show the 
ravages of time. On all the intervening streets 
between Van Buren and Maxwell, from the river 
to Blue Island Avenue, garbage boxes were ob- 
noxiously evident and arranged as sentinels along 
the sidewalks. In the years immediately follow- 
ing the awful conflagration caused by Mrs. 
O'Leary's cow, that section of the city was in- 
habited by the Irish and Bohemians. Just as 
soon as they acquired the means, the most of 
them moved away. They were succeeded by 
Russian Jews, Italians, and Greeks. An oasis 
of green grass and shady trees in the form of a 
small park would have been a God send to the 
rising generation of that congested tenement dis- 
trict. The priest had repeatedly urged the West 
Side Park Board to select a site for that purpose. 
After several years of needless procrastination 
a few lots opposite the church were purchased 
for a public playground. In the crowded thor- 
oughfares of that Italian quarter youngsters 
might be found who never saw a blade of grass, 
much less a flower, until they beheld the few 
sickly plants and vines that were making an heroic 
struggle for existence on the lawn of Guardian 
Angel Church. Poor little children, like the 
flowers of the neighborhood, their life was mis- 
erable. 



80 MEMOIRS OF ZI PRE' 

Signor Buonanima, the godfather and maternal 
uncle of Pasqualino, kept an ice-cream parlor on 
N. Clark St., near Lincoln Park. The Amadeos 
were toiling and moiling from early morn till 
late at night, selling steamship tickets, exchang- 
ing money, sending drafts, and writing letters 
for clients to their loved ones in far-off Italy. 
Thursday, the weekly college free-day brought 
Pasqualino more in contact with his parents. 
They did not require much coaxing to let him 
spend that day at his uncle's. Thus he would not 
be around to pester them with his incessant prat- 
tle. To the uncle's house therefore Pasqualino 
regularly went in order to spend the greater part 
of Thursday. He invariably brought along a 
couple of school books and devoted a few hours 
to the preparation of class exercises for the next 
day. The rest of the time was spent romping 
about the park, playing tennis, or visiting the 
zoological garden. He never failed to visit a 
big grizzly bear to whom he usually threw a few 
crumbs of cracker jack, that is, when the attend- 
ants were not in sight. Pasqualino seemed to- 
tally oblivious of the placards confronting him 
on every side not to feed the animals. It amused 
him immensely to watch the antics of Bruin who 
would complacently straighten up on his haunches 
like a trained dog anticipating a lump of sugar. 
If any of the tempting crumbs happened to fall 






SCHOOL DAYS 81 

outside the bars, he stretched out his paw and 
deftly swept them into the cage. One Thursday 
morning while Pasqualino stood observing an 
African lion, a dark complexioned gentleman 
with a Van Dyke beard approached the railing 
of the enclosure. Pasqualino scrutinized him in- 
tently, endeavoring to recall where he had seen 
his face.before. He finally located him, and said 
to himself : " I got your number, old boy. 
You're the gent who came to argue with Zi Pre' 
at the close of the mission ! " A similar process 
of inquiry was probably taking place in the mind 
of the stranger, who engaged Pasqualino in the 
following conversation. 



CHAPTER IX 

AT THE ZOO 

"TTTELL, young man," said the stranger, 
VY " what do you think of the king of the 
forest ? " An attendant with a basket of meat 
happened to pass along the enclosure. At sight 
of him the monarch of the jungle rushed to the 
front of his cage and emitted a terrific roar that 
caused both the stranger and Pasqualino a mo- 
mentary shudder. The lion's roar aroused a con- 
cert of protests from neighboring cages. The 
jaguars, leopards and tigers soon joined the ani- 
mal chorus. "Wow!" ejaculated Pasqualino. 
" I cannot help thinking of what the x\rchbishop 
said when he gave us Confirmation, ' to be sober 
and watch: because your adversary the devil as 
a roaring lion goeth about seeking whom he may 
devour.' That fellow would certainly make 
short work of us if he ever escaped." 

The pair emerged into the open air and pro- 
ceeded towards the monkey house. The first 
cage to the left of the entrance contained a Man- 
drill baboon who, of all animals in the collection, 

82 



AT THE ZOO 83 

was by far the homeliest and most repulsive. 
His face, like a chromatic spectrum, seemed to 
exhibit nearly every color of the rainbow, while 
his fiery red nose gave him the appearance of a 
reprobate who had been on a week's debauch. 

" Hello, Grandpa ! " exclaimed the stranger, 
playfully addressing the horrid creature. 

" So that is the brute which Mr. Darwin would 
have us recognize as our ancestor ! " commented 
Pasqualino. " Nobody can convince me that I 
am even remotely related to such an ugly beast. 
I think that I shall move on so as not to disturb 
your conversation with Grandpa. The odor of 
this place is rotten like the animals." The 
stranger did not seem inclined to renew old ac- 
quaintances, and followed Pasqualino to a cage 
of timber wolves. 

" How strongly they resemble the domestic 
canine ! " said the stranger. " They might be 
trained to mind the house." 

" I'm afraid," said Pasqualino, " that as watch 
dogs they would prove a failure. You might as 
well get a cat to mind a canary, or a hawk to 
watch a brood of chickens. They remind me of 
the admonition ' to beware of false prophets who 
come to us in the clothing of sheep, but inwardly 
they are ravening wolves/ These brutes at least 
are not masquerading. Just observe the size of 
that fellow's mouth and teeth when he yawns! 



84 MEMOIRS OF Zl PRE 

Anyone could easily recognize him at quite a dis- 
tance and keep out of his way. But those wolves 
arrayed in sheep's clothing who steal upon us un- 
awares . . . they are the ones we must guard 
against." 

" Why who can those wolves be that cause you 
so much uneasiness ? " asked the stranger. 

" The Gospel indicates them clearly enough, 
and our priest has told me about them repeat- 
edly," rejoined Pasqualino. " They are those 
misguided soul-chasers who abound in the West 
Side Italian district. The feminine variety is 
extremely dangerous, as she usually has such at- 
tractive and winning ways. These zealots are 
continually trying to draw Italian children into 
their meeting houses. Under the guise of giv- 
ing the poorer ones an outing in the country they 
keep them under control during the summer 
months and employ all sorts of inducements to 
rob them of their faith. Sometimes they meet 
us on our way home from Mass and tell us we 
mustn't believe that we receive Jesus in Holy 
Communion, that it is only a piece of ordinary 
bread which the priest gives us. They offer lit- 
tle girls candy, clothes, and all kinds of presents, 
in order to entice them into their sewing circles. 
Some go so far as to place a cross over their 
chapel and hang pictures of the Madonna on the 
walls in order to hoodwink the simple-minded. 



AT THE ZOO 85 

There is a poor barber dying of consumption in 
a house on Desplaines Street. One of these 
fanatics visited his wife and told her that if she 
only joined their church, the rent would be paid 
and the family would be supplied with coal and 
groceries during the winter. Our pastor told us 
all about the case, because he is attending her 
husband. He said that it was like Satan taking 
our Lord to the top of a mountain, and promis- 
ing Him all the kingdoms of the earth and the 
glory of them, if only falling down He would 
adore him. The barber's wife begged the pros- 
elytizer to go away and not try to take advantage 
of her poverty. Although in extreme need, she 
was not ready to exchange her priceless gift of 
faith for a mess of pottage. 

" One. Sunday morning the priest discovered 
two men distributing their leaflets among the chil- 
dren in Guardian Angel school yard. He was 
very indignant that they dared to trespass on pri- 
vate property. He ordered them out and de- 
clared that if he ever caught them on the church 
premises again, they would get a free ride in the 
patrol wagon. Last summer two individuals 
were haranguing the people in front of Gari- 
baldi Hall on Ewing Street. One started to sing 
a hymn while the other doled out bibles from a 
satchel to the crowd. Suddenly the listeners 
began to jeer and pelt them with water-melon 



86 MEMOIRS OF ZI PRE' 

rinds obtained from a neighboring garbage box, 
and finally chased them across Polk street bridge. 
Now I regard these gospel peddlers as ravening 
wolves/' 

" Do you really think," asked the stranger, 
" that those engaged in spreading the Gospel 
among ignorant, superstitious Italians are raven- 
ing wolves ? " 

" Yes," replied Pasqualino. " What else but 
a wolf in sheep's clothing would you consider 
the so-called Father Anastasi who donned a set 
of vestments and pretended to say Mass al fresco 
on W. Polk St., for the Santa Rosalia Society? 
This proselytizing skulduggery was highly com- 
mended by the Episcopalian Official Organ 1 
which declared that ' the 3,000 reverent Italians 
were delighted at having finally discovered a 
Catholic (?) priest who did not live in submis- 
sion to the Pope ! ' Anyone employing such un- 
derhanded tactics in the commercial world, would 
be speedily driven out of business." 

" You seem to be deeply prejudiced against 
these good people," said the stranger. " Are 
you acquainted at all with their religion ? " 

" No, sir," rejoined Pasqualino, " and what is 
more, I have no desire to make its acquaintance. 
It is enough for me to know that these people 
despise the Pope, bishops, and priests, about 

lU The Diocese of Chicago," (Nov., 1913, p. 20). 



AT THE ZOO 87 

whom they are continually spreading all kinds 
of lies. Why don't they stay at home and mind 
their own business, or wait at least until we send 
for them? They seem so anxious to make us 
apostatize from the true faith. Are you perhaps 
one of them ? " 

" Oh, dear no," responded the stranger. " I 
am an Evangelist/' 

" An Evangelist ! " echoed Pasqualino, giving 
a long whistle and drawing back in astonishment. 
" Which one of them have I the honor to ad- 
dress? Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John? I 
thought that all four were dead and buried cen- 
turies ago. What is the ' difference between a 
Protestant and an Evangelist ? " 

" Protestants," explained the stranger, " are 
those who follow the reformation of Calvin and 
Luther. Evangelists or Evangelicals adhere to 
the pure and simple Gospel explained in its true 
sense." 

" Is your Gospel different from ours ? " asked 
Pasqualino. 

" Oh, it is really the same book," replied the 
stranger, " but with a different explanation." 

"Per Bacco, that is wonderful," exclaimed 
Pasqualino. " What authority have you for 
your different explanation ? " 

H You might as well ask me," rejoined the 
stranger, " what authority I have to know light 



88 



MEMOIRS OF ZI PRE' 



from dark, white from black, or sweet from sour. 
Each one's common sense gives the true mean- 
ing of the Bible." 

" Your illustrations," said Pasqualino, " de- 
note objects that fall under the senses and even 
the animals are able to distinguish them. Offer 
a lemon even to a jackass, and see how quickly 
he will turn from it in disgust. ,The Bible is 
not an object of the senses, but something spir- 
itual and divine. To recognize it as the written 
word of God, we require not only an enlightened 
mind, but also an infallible tribunal divinely es- 
tablished which St. Paul calls, ' the pillar and 
ground of truth/ Everybody claims to have 
common sense. Hence everybody even the most 
ignorant ' ought to be able then to explain the 
Bible. The New Testament was not written 
until quite a while after our Savior's death. 
During that interval men could certainly be 
saved without reading the Bible. They could 
not read and explain what was not written. 
Can you give any proof that we are obliged to 
read the Bible?" 

" Why, do you think God gave us the Bible, 
if He didn't expect us to read it and thus learn 
His holy will ? " asked the stranger. 

"If God's will could be ascertained solely 
through the reading of the Bible," rejoined Pas- 
qualino, "your argument might have some 



AT THE ZOO 89 

weight. Fortunately His will may be learned in 
various other ways, and chiefly through the oral 
teaching of the Church which He commands us 
to obey. ' He that heareth not the Church, let 
him be to thee as the heathen and the publican.' 
If all had the assistance of the Holy Spirit when 
reading the Bible, as you contend, all would 
agree in its interpretation. St. Peter declares 
that the epistles of St. Paul contain certain 
things hard to be understood, which the un- 
learned and unstable wrest, as they do also the 
other Scripture, to their own destruction." (II 
Peter III-16.) 

" But the Savior commanded us to read the 
Bible," insisted the stranger. " ' Search the 
Scriptures, for you think in them to have life 
everlasting; and the same are they that give tes- 
timony of me.' " 

" The passage quoted," said Pasqualino, " is 
of doubtful construction, and may be understood 
indicatively or imperatively. In either case it 
conveys no general command. Understood in 
the Indicative mood, it is simply a reproach to 
the Jews who, like yourself, derived such little 
profit from the reading of the Bible. Taken 
imperatively, the text refers, not to the multi- 
tude, but to the Scribes and Pharisees, those 
versed in the law, whom alone our Lord here 
addresses. If God commanded all to read the 



go MEMOIRS OF ZI PRE 

Bible as the sole means of salvation, for Apostles 
He would have selected a dozen printers instead 
of twelve poor fishermen. Many cannot read, 
and many who can, have no bible. God never 
exacts an impossibility of His creatures. My 
grandmother doesn't know B from a bull's foot. 
Isn't there any salvation for her?" 

" My dear boy," said the stranger patroniz- 
ingly, " you don't understand these things. Just 
let me explain them to you gradually." 

" Thanks, I don't need your explanation," re- 
torted Pasqualino. " I can read the Bible, and 
my common sense will enable me to interpret it 
just as well, in fact better than you. Just tell 
me how an ignorant person can read and under- 
stand it, and then you may pass on to some other 
subject. You make me tired." 

" Well, well," laughed the stranger, " your 
candor pleases me. What else have you to 
say?" 

" Simply this," shouted Pasqualino excitedly ; 
" if each one's common sense be enough to in- 
terpret the Bible, then let each one have a copy 
of it, and even the most illiterate will have no 
need of you or any other teacher. You should 
be true to your principles. To do otherwise is 
to act the traitor, the wolf in sheep's clothing." 
Just then Pasqualino heard the noon whistle. 

" One word more," said the stranger. " Since 



AT THE ZOO 91 

you are so much opposed to the common sense 
of each one, or the private illumination of the 
Holy Ghost, what assurance can you have that 
your belief is according to the Gospel ?" 

" Faith cometh by hearing/' replied Pasqua- 
lino ; " we get ours from the pastors whom the 
Holy Ghost appointed to govern the Church. 
We follow the teachings of those to whom it was 
said : ' Going therefore teach all nations all 
things whatsoever I have commanded, and be- 
hold I am with you all days even to the con- 
summation of the world.' We observe the doc- 
trine taught by the lawful successor of him to 
whom it was declared : ' Thou art Peter and 
upon this rock I will build my church and the 
gates of hell shall not prevail against it.' Kindly 
meet me here next Thursday and we can re- 
sume our conversation." Whereupon Pasqua- 
lino started on a record breaking pace, and did 
not stop running until breathless he reached his 
uncle's house. 



CHAPTER X 

PSEUDO-REFORMERS 

PASQUALINO'S uncle was so busy waiting 
on customers that he failed to observe his 
panting, perspiring nephew glide swiftly through 
the store to the living apartment in the rear. 
The aunt, however, demanded an explanation of 
his delay. 

" Oh, we stood talking near the conservatory," 
he explained, " and didn't notice the time pass- 
ing. Just as soon as the 12 o'clock whistle blew, 
I started for home/' 

" Pasqualino ! " she said, leveling her index 
finger at him and looking him straight in the 
eye, " you have been either swimming, or out in 
a boat! You look as if you had just been fished 
out of the lake." 

" Neither one, nor the other, Auntie," he re- 
plied with an air of injured innocence that im- 
mediately dispelled her suspicions. u I am sim- 
ply dripping with perspiration, because I ran all 
the way home." 

Of course he should have told her about meet- 
ing that strange gentleman and of the conversa- 

92 



PSEUDO-REFORMERS 93 

tion with him, but he did not realize the danger 
to which he was exposed. Rejoicing secretly 
over the victory achieved, he was anxious to re- 
turn to the assault in order to render his triumph 
complete. He devoted every spare moment of 
the following week to the " Faith of our 
Fathers " and " Catholic Belief." With the mas- 
tery of these two books he felt that he was be- 
coming quite a theologian. In fact on three dif- 
ferent occasions after class he importuned his 
professor in order to obtain all possible informa- 
tion regarding Luther, Calvin, and Henry VIII. 
" I'll be Johnny on the spot next Thursday morn- 
ing," he said to himself in great glee, and rub- 
bing his hands in anticipation of the fray. " If 
his whiskers only shows up, I'll hand him a few 
thought-provokers. I will take ' Catholic Belief ' 
along in my pocket. It may come handy in 
case of doubt." 

The following Thursday found him attentively 
watching the sea lions. An attendant was 
throwing them fish which they never failed to 
catch with their mouths. " There's only one 
thing these fellows are unable to catch," said the 
attendant. " I'll be the goat, mister," said Pas- 
qualino. " What's the answer ? " 

" A cold," hoarsely muttered the attendant 
who fell into a paroxysm of coughing. 

Just then the so-called evangelist, confident of 



94 MEMOIRS OF ZI PRE' 

drawing a fish into his net, approached our youth- 
ful theologian and greeted him most cordially. 

Pasqualino returned the salutation and added: 
" I have been thinking very seriously of what 
you said last week, and would like you to give 
me a few explanations." 

" Well, here I am at your service," said the 
stranger with a beaming countenance. " But 
you must try to speak more calmly. So many 
people are passing here. Let us take that seat 
yonder where we shall neither be disturbed nor 
attract attention." 

" That suits me," said Pasqualino, as both pro- 
ceeded leisurely to the bench under a spreading 
chestnut tree. " Please excuse me," continued 
Pasqualino, " for having been so rude in my 
speech last Thursday. I am of a rather excit- 
able temperament, and whenever anyone attacks 
the truth in my presence, it gets on my nerves. 
My professor has cautioned me repeatedly to 
argue quietly and not fly into a passion." 

" Oh, make no more excuses, but go ahead 
with your questions," said the stranger. 

" Well," began Pasqualino, " how long has 
your creed existed ? " 

" The evangelical creed," replied the stranger, 
" or the method of interpreting the Bible in its 
true and proper sense goes back to the reforma- 
tion of the Catholic Church." 



PSEUDO-REFORMERS 95 

" History informs us when, where, and by 
whom the Lutheran, Episcopalian, Baptist, Pres- 
byterian, Mormon, and other churches were 
founded. Does it give us any information about 
the establishment of the Catholic Church?" 
asked Pasqualino. 

" Oh, yes," replied the stranger, " it was orig- 
inally founded by Christ. But it gradually 
drifted into idolatry, and was reformed by 
Luther, Calvin, and Henry VIII. They cor- 
rected its various abuses by introducing a belief 
based solely upon the pure, unadulterated gospel. 
That is what we call the Protestant or Evangeli- 
cal Reformation. " 

" You admit," said Pasqualino, " that the 
Catholic Church was originally founded by 
Christ. It was therefore the work of God. 
How then could men improve upon or reform 
God's work?" 

" He commissioned them to do it," replied the 
stranger somewhat testily. 

" What proof have you that He commissioned 
them? True, God occasionally employed wicked 
men to punish His wayward children, but when- 
ever there was question of reforming their 
morals, He invariably selected individuals con- 
spicuous for their piety who preached, not so 
much by word of mouth, as by the force of their 
edifying example. 



g6 MEMOIRS OF Zl PRE 

" The scandalous lives of these pseudo-re- 
formers are so notorious as to be acknowledged 
even by Protestant historians. Did they per- 
form any miracles to prove that God sent them 
to reform His Church ? " 

" It isn't known," replied the stranger, " that 
they performed any miracles." 

" It is however, known," rejoined Pasqualino, 
" that they felt the necessity of at least attempt- 
ing miracles in confirmation of their extraor- 
dinary mission. • 

" Just listen to a brief memorandum on the 
subject," continued Pasqualino as he drew forth 
a small note-book from his pocket and began 
to read: 

" ' A certain Thomas Munzer began to preach 
independently of the arch reformer. Enraged at 
Munzer's presumption, Luther said: Let the 
illustrious senate of Mulhausen summon Thomas 
Munzer before it, and if possible before the 
whole community, and let him be asked, who 
sent him or who authorized him to preach? If 
he claims to have been sent by God or the Spirit 
of God, then, like the Apostles of old, let him 
prove his assertion by signs and miracles. For 
when God wishes to deviate from the estab- 
lished order of things, He always accompanies 
the change with miracles. (Jena, II vol.) 
Luther overlooked the fact that his argument 



PSEUDO-REFORMERS 97 

against Munzer might equally be urged against 
himself and fellow reformers. For where were 
their credentials? By what prodigies did they 
establish their extraordinary mission? Staphyl, 
an eye witness, testified that upon one occasion 
Luther endeavored to expel an evil spirit from 
a girl possessed. His effort proved such a 
miserable failure that he was obliged to abandon 
the attempted exorcism in despair. According 
to Jerome Bolsec, also an eye witness, Calvin 
bribed an individual named Brule to feign death 
for the purpose of imposing upon the credulity 
of the spectators by apparently restoring him to 
life. The supposed corpse actually died during 
the impious performance, and remained dead 
notwithstanding the futile attempts of Calvin to 
resuscitate him. Erasmus speaking of the 
Lutherans declares that there never was one of 
them able to cure even a lame horse.' " 

" My dear boy/' exclaimed the stranger, " we 
should attend to what these great reformers said, 
and not to what they did." 

" Certainly," rejoined Pasqualino, " in seeking 
truth we pay heed only to what a person says, 
and not to what he does. Do you think that a 
lecture on temperance from a drunkard, or an 
exhortation to purity from a libertine would 
produce much of an impression? No Episco- 
palian has yet dared to hold up Henry VIII as a 



98 



MEMOIRS OF ZI PRE' 



shining example of conjugal fidelity. Luther 
declared that he learned a great deal from the 
demon whom he invoked with the words: 
' Holy Devil, pray for me.' Now if you follow 
these men, you also must have the devil for your 
master. Strange that people should criticize 
Catholics for praying to the saints, while they 
themselves invoke the devil ! " 

" My young friend," exclaimed the evangelist, 
" you are hardly old enough to understand these 
things. If you had just a little patience, I would 
explain everything to you clearly." 

" I clearly understand that the founders of 
evangelism were self-appointed. They were not 
virtuous, but addicted to all kinds of vice. They 
wrought no miracle, but had the demon for in- 
structor." 

" Now, just a moment," shouted the evangelist. 
"'Luther and Calvin were the reformers and not 
the founders of our belief. Our founder was 
Christ to Whom is due all honor and glory in 
heaven and earth forever." 

" Please tell me," said Pasqualino, " how the 
doctrine taught by Christ and preached by the 
Apostles was transmitted to us. The Church of 
Christ must be one in doctrine, worship, and 
government. Catholics the world over may 
speak different languages, but they all have the 
same faith and moral law, and receive the same 



PSEUDO-REFORMERS 99 

sacraments. Your church, instead of being one, 
is divided into as many sects as there are mem- 
bers able to read. According to you, everyone 
can read and believe in the Bible what he likes. 
Hence each one can form a religion to suit his 
own taste. Your belief is not holy because its 
founders were not holy." 

The evangelist was growing impatient. " We 
pay no attention," he retorted, " to the private 
lives of the reformers, but solely to Jesus Christ, 
the true founder of our church." 

" But," insisted Pasqualino, " how do you 
prove that Christ established your church 1600 
years after He ascended into heaven? Can you 
indicate a series of pastors who taught your doc- 
trine from the time of Christ down to the ap- 
pearance of Luther and Calvin ? " 

" Your objection," replied the evangelist, " is 
easily answered. In St. John's gospel we read 
that ' many things are not written down in this 
book.' Now among the ' unwritten things ' I 
believe we must include the series of our pas- 
tors. Our doctrine was known in Apostolic 
times but remained hidden until the reformation 
when it was promulgated anew." 

" I agree with you," said Pasqualino, " that 
it was known in the Apostolic times to Judas 
Iscariot and remained hidden in the devil's 
brain for 16 centuries. ' I laid the egg/ prophe- 



ioo MEMOIRS OF Zl PRE 

sied Erasmus, ' and Luther hatched it' Your 
reformation sprang from the renaissance. It 
was simply a revival of pagan ideals rendered 
successful by the appeals which the reformers 
made to the vilest passions of human nature. 
Luther dispensed religious from their vows, 
sanctioned bigamy, and invited princes to con- 
fiscate church property. These tactics brought 
him more adherents than all the books he ever 
wrote." 

" How can you prove that the Catholic was 
any more visible than the reformed church ? " 
asked the evangelist. 

" Ho, ho ! " chuckled Pasqualino. " Chang- 
ing the subject is a sign that you grant me the 
first point, viz., that Protestants can claim neither 
doctrinal unity nor Apostolic succession from the 
time of Christ down to the reformation. So 
you want proof that the Catholic Church is vis- 
ible? That is indeed easy. For our Lord com- 
pared His Church to a great edifice built upon a 
rock, and St. Peter was to be the foundation 
stone. He compared it to a kingdom, to a vine- 
yard, to a city set upon the mountain top that 
all might see it ; to a light shining from a candle- 
stick lighting all in the house. His Church was 
to be a visible organization spread throughout 
the whole world, a true body with many mem- 



PSEUDO-REFORMERS 101 

bers whose wondrous unity should be a proof to 
the world of the reality and truth of His divine 
message, ' that the world may know that thou 
hast sent me/ " 



CHAPTER XI 



UNITY 



"TTTHEN you grow older and have had 
VV some experience," said the stranger, 
" you will realize that Protestants and Catholics 
agree in the fundamentals. You believe in one 
God and three divine Persons, Father, Son, and 
Holy Ghost; that God the Son became man and 
died for our sins ; that He will reward the good 
and punish the wicked. That is also the Prot- 
estant profession of faith. In fact they recite 
the Apostles' Creed just the same as you will find 
it in a Catholic prayer book." 

'■ Do they really repeat the words : ' I believe 
in the Holy Ghost, the Holy Catholic Church ? ' " 
asked Pasqualino. 

" Why certainly," replied the stranger. 

" It is really too bad," rejoined Pasqualino, 
" that they fail to grasp the deep spiritual mean- 
ing of those two articles. Did it ever occur to 
you why they were so peculiarly arranged in the 
Apostles' Creed?" 

" It did not," responded the stranger. " I do 

102 



UNITY 10: 



not think that there can be any particular rea- 



son." 



" Oh, yes, there is/' insisted Pasqualino. " The 
eternal fitness of things required that to the 
Holy Ghost should be subjoined the Catholic 
Church, just as the house to the tenant, the body 
to the soul. Without the presence of the Holy 
Ghost the Church couldn't exist. In Him she 
lives, moves, and has her being. It is from this 
intimate union of the Holy Spirit with the 
Church that her unity, sanctity, perpetuity, infal- 
libility, and in fact every one of her attributes is 
derived." 

" All the Christian denominations," said the 
stranger, " claim the guidance of the Holy 
Spirit." 

" Their claim proves nothing," replied Pas- 
qualino, drawing a penknife from his pocket, 
and glancing furtively around to see if he were 
observed by a park policeman. 

" What are you going to do ? " exclaimed the 
terrified evangelist, springing up from the bench, 
and seizing both wrists of Pasqualino in a vice- 
like grip. 

" You have no reason to be frightened," said 
Pasqualino, who could not help laughing at the 
ludicrous situation. " I simply wish to illustrate 
my point." 

The evangelist being convinced that no de- 



104 



MEMOIRS OF ZI PRE 



signs to puncture his abdomen were really in- 
tended, relinquished his hold, and the youth, 
reaching up, severed a small twig from an over- 
hanging bough. " Look/' he continued, " this 
little branch is just like thousands of others up 
in the tree. Its leaves have the same shape and 
color. Do you notice any difference between this 
branch in my hand and the others above our 
heads ?" 

" Not a particle/' replied the evangelist, some- 
what amused. 

" Well, there is a difference/' said Pasqualino. 
" The branches up there are firmly attached to 
the tree from which they draw their sap and 
nourishment. They will continue to flourish and 
eventually bear fruit. Take this tiny twig home 
with you and look at it to-morrow. You will 
then discover how rapidly its leaves wither and 
decay. Likewise in the body of man it may 
happen that a member be cut off. Does the soul 
follow the severed member? While united to 
the body, it was alive; cut off, its life is lost. 
Thus we are members of Christ's mystic body, 
the Church, so long as we remain united in faith, 
in worship, and in government. Through schism 
or heresy we are cut off just the same as this un- 
fortunate twig here in my hand. The Holy 
Ghost doesn't follow a member severed from the 
Church any more than the soul follows an ampu- 



UNITY 105 

tated hand or foot. Whether it be one unfortu- 
nate person here or there, or even a whole na- 
tion which is thus torn off, the result is practically 
the same. They are without spiritual life, be- 
cause severed from the Church which is the liv- 
ing organism of the Holy Ghost. ' We being 
many, are one body in Christ, and everyone mem- 
bers one of another/ (Rom. xii, 5.) ' For in 
one Spirit were we all baptised into one body.' " 
(I Cor. xii, 13.) 

" I think," said the evangelist, u that the 
Church is invisibly one, but visibly separated 
into branches, such as the Roman Catholic, Greek 
and Anglican churches." 

" You think an absurdity. Your theory is an 
insult to the. Holy Ghost," replied Pasqualino. 
" The Holy Ghost is the Spirit of truth and not 
of falsehood. If He really resided in the three 
so-called branches, it would be impossible for 
them to teach contradictory doctrines. A soul 
cannot animate two bodies, nor can two rival 
churches each possess the indwelling guiding 
presence of the Holy Spirit." 

" All the branches of the Church agree in es- 
sentials," said the stranger. " So what differ- 
ence does it make if they happen to differ in 
minor details ? " 

" When our Lord commanded His Apostles 
to preach the Gospel to every creature," replied 



io6 MEMOIRS OF ZI PRE' 

Pasqualino, " He made no distinction between 
essentials and non-essentials. They were not 
at liberty to expound just those portions of 
His gospel which might please popular fancy, 
because they were ordered to teach all things 
whatsoever He commanded. He wanted them 
to preach to all nations one and the same doc- 
trine, to administer everywhere the same means 
of salvation, and to enforce universal obedience 
to the same divine authority. He established 
but one true Church for the whole human race." 

" Do you know where any two individuals can 
be found believing exactly the same things ? " 
asked the evangelist. 

" Oh, yes," promptly rejoined Pasqualino. 
yc In the Catholic Church you can find 250 mil- 
lion members not only believing exactly the same 
doctrines, but also receiving the same sacra- 
ments and rendering obedience to the same spir- 
itual head. They are all as intimately united to 
one visible chief as the members of the human 
body are united to the head. The faithful of 
each parish are subject to their immediate pastor. 
Each pastor is subordinate to his bishop, and 
every bishop of Christendom acknowledges the 
universal jurisdiction of the Bishop of Rome, the 
successor of St. Peter and the visible head of the 
Church. This admirable unity of faith, cult, and 
authority, which is a distinctive mark of the 



UNITY 107 

religious society established by Christ, cannot be 
found outside the Catholic Church. The Epis- 
copalian communion is subdivided into Low and 
Ritualistic or High Church. Some of these 
claim that there are seven sacraments, others have 
reduced the number to two. Anabaptists assert 
that infant baptism is altogether unnecessary. 
The Unitarian denies the Divinity of Christ, and 
the Universalist repudiates the existence of hell. 
Then we have the shouting Methodist, the hard- 
shell bigoted Baptist, and the friendly Quaker 
all differing in their creed. According to the 
Quaker, it behooveth us to quake, for doesn't the 
Bible exhort us ' to work out our salvation in fear 
and trembling ' ? Imagine the conglomeration of 
religious notions, were we to compare the hun- 
dreds of sects differing from each other in the 
interpretation of the Bible, and claiming to be 
guided by the Holy Spirit ! " 

" Amid such confusion," exclaimed the evan- 
gelist, " what chance have we to discover the one 
true Church ? " 

" Every chance in the world," replied Pas- 
qualino. " The Catholic is the only church en- 
dowed with unmistakable unity of faith, wor- 
ship, and government. She alone has this dis- 
tinctive mark by which she may easily be recog- 
nized among all sects, creeds, and religions, as 
the sheepfold under one shepherd, the house 



io8 MEMOIRS OF Zl PRE' 

built upon a rock against which not even the pow- 
ers of hell should ever prevail, the spouse of 
Christ, the kingdom of heaven upon earth. ,, 
Pasqualino had spoken in such an eloquent, con- 
vincing manner as to completely stagger his op- 
ponent. The latter remained silent for several 
moments, not knowing what answer to make in 
return. The thought of being silenced by the 
unanswerable logic of a mere stripling whose 
Catholic faith he had purposely started out to 
destroy, was indeed galling. At length he said: 
" My young friend, you have still a great many 
things to learn." " On that point we agree per- 
fectly," retorted Pasqualino. " What I don't 
know, would fill a library. That is why I am 
still attending college. But there are others — " 

" It will take," interrupted the evangelist, 
"more than empty declamation and rhetoric to 
convince me that the Catholic Church, with its 
history of glaring abuses, has any real claim to 
the abiding presence of the Holy Spirit." 

" I would gladly discuss the subject with you, 
but unfortunately have no more time at my dis- 
posal. Let us reserve it for our conversation 
next Thursday." 

Then picking up the tiny branch which he had 
severed from the tree, he offered it to the evange- 
list, with the remark : " Take this little twig home 
with you, and see whether you can make it grow." 



CHAPTER XII 

SANCTITY 

PASQUALINO had a busy week. In addi- 
tion to the daily preparation for his class 
work, he devoted every spare moment to the 
study of Christian doctrine. So thoroughly 
posted had he become on the four marks of the 
Church that the following Thursday found him 
bright and early in the park, impatiently waiting 
for the arrival of his adversary. The latter had 
not been idle. He scoured the book-stores until 
he discovered what he wanted, viz., a vile publi- 
cation edited by a squeaky-voiced, excommunica- 
ted soggarth who paraded the unfortunate off- 
spring of his infamous liaison before the audience 
when lecturing against the Church. He had the 
hardihood to return to Cork where, instead of be- 
ing welcomed by a brass band, he was chased and 
hooted through the streets by a crowd of angry 
citizens who kept ringing a cowbell at his heels 
until he was finally rescued by the police. His 
book was a tissue of abominable diatribes against 
popes, bishops, priests, and nuns. With such a 

109 



no MEMOIRS OF ZI PRE' 

formidable weapon the proselytizer felt confi- 
dent of victory. 

" Good morning ! " he said to Pasqualino, 
whom he met near the conservatory. 

" I have brought along a publication which, I 
think, ought to interest you. Listen to this," he 
continued, opening the book and commencing to 
read. Scarcely had he read two lines when Pas- 
qualino raised his hands to his ears and retreated 
in disgust. " Good day," he shouted. " You 
can deposit that filth with the scavenger. For 
me it has no attraction." 

Flushed with anger at the well merited rebuff, 
the proselytizer advanced within a few feet of 
him and exclaimed : " No wonder that you are 
unwilling to hear a few facts ; they might expose 
your holy church in all its ugliness." 

"Your collection of moral garbage by a scan- 
dal monger and character assassin, even granting 
for the sake of argument that all he said were 
true, would not invalidate the Church's title to 
holiness. ' It must be that scandals come, but 
woe to him by whom the scandal cometh/ Our 
.Lord expressly foretold that His Church would 
contain many unworthy members. For He com- 
pared her to a net cast into the sea, and gather- 
ing together all kinds of fish, bad as well as good. 
He likened her to a field containing weeds as 
well as grain. The spots on the sun do not di- 



SANCTITY in 

minish his effulgence, nor does the cockle amidst 
the wheat impair the beauty of the golden har- 
vest. St. Paul styles the church of Corinth a 
congregation of saints, yet in the very same epis- 
tle he reproves some scandalous member among 
them. Since holiness of life is arduous and op- 
posed to the strongest inclinations of our corrupt 
nature, we should not wonder if the Church fails 
to attain her end in a great many cases. Bad 
members follow their sinful passions and not 
her teachings. They neglect to employ the 
means she affords them for their sanctification. 
I am perfectly willing to discuss any religious 
topic so long as the line of argument be kept 
within the bounds of propriety. But my self- 
respect and sense of decency forbid me to listen 
to the vile stuff you started to read." 

" Very well," rejoined the proselytizer, per- 
ceiving further insistence futile. " I shall con- 
tent myself by asking a few questions. Can you 
suggest any plausible reason why the Catholic 
Church should usurp the title — * holy ' ? " 

" She doesn't usurp, but lawfully claims the 
title — ' holy/ " replied Pasqualino, " because, in 
the words of the catechism, her founder Jesus 
Christ is holy, because she teaches a holy doc- 
trine, invites all to a holy life; and because of 
the eminent holiness of so many thousands of 
her children. It was for the sanctification of 



ii2 MEMOIRS OF ZI PRE' 

His Church that our Lord suffered and died upon 
the cross. ' Christ also loved the church and 
delivered Himself up for it ; that He might sanc- 
tify it, cleansing it by the laver of water in the 
word of life.' She is the mystic body of which 
Christ is the head, and the Holy Ghost is the viv- 
ifying principle. Without the Holy Spirit she 
could not exist. In Him she lives, moves, and 
has her being. For this reason our Lord, 
shortly before His ascension, promised to send 
the Paraclete to abide with His Church forever 
in order to guide her in the way of holiness and 
truth. It is from this intimate union with the 
Holy Spirit that all her attributes and preroga- 
tives emanate — her unity, sanctity, perpetuity, 
and infallibility. This is what distinguishes her 
among all sects, creeds, and religions, and makes 
her the divinely appointed channel of all God's 
graces to men." 

" I never noticed anything particularly holy in 
Catholic doctrines/' remarked the evangelist. 
" Most of them are medieval superstitions." 

" They belong to the supernatural order and 
consequently have little attraction for those en- 
grossed in the gratification of their passions," re- 
sponded Pasqualino. 

" What do you understand by holiness ? " 
asked the evangelist. 

" Freedom from filth and union with God," re- 



SANCTITY 113 

plied Pasqualino. " The greater the immunity 
from the former, the closer the union with Him 
Who is essentially holy. Cleanliness is next to 
godliness. So long as the mind and heart re- 
main inordinately attached to the world they 
cannot be holy, just as gold and silver cannot be 
pure when mixed with lead or baser metals. In 
order that the term sanctity may be truthfully 
applied to a church, it must be holy in origin, 
principles and means which it employs for the 
attainment of its end. No church can be called 
holy if it has even one vicious principle or doc- 
trine. Good comes from an integral cause, and 
evil can proceed from any kind of a defect. Of 
course a few just members may be found in a 
church teaching false doctrines. Their goodness 
is not the result of the church's influence. Hence 
it cannot be called a holy church on account of 
the good that happens in it by accident." 

" Which doctrines of the Catholic Church do 
you consider productive of holiness ? " asked the 
evangelist. 

" All of them without exception/' replied Pas- 
qualino. " The charity which she exhorts all 
her members to practise is far superior to the 
humanitarian philanthropy of the world. For 
it embraces foes as well as friends. Humility 
or a candid appreciation of personal unworthi- 
ness is practically unknown among the sects, 



114 MEMOIRS OF ZI PRE 9 

which regard it as altogether incompatible with 
this wonderful age of progress. A life of cel- 
ibacy, penance, and mortification is most repug- 
nant to all the impulses of our fallen nature. 
Yet such a life has been embraced by thousands 
of Catholics from the dawn of Christianity down 
to the present day. When holiness of life is ex- 
emplified in a heroic degree it is usually accom- 
panied by miracles. Our Lord promised that the 
prodigies which His followers should perform, 
would be no less amazing than those wrought by 
Himself." 

" Everything that you have said regarding the 
Catholic Church," remarked the evangelist, " may 
be asserted of the Protestant denominations." 

" Oh, no, not with any semblance of truth," 
retorted Pasqualino. " All Protestant sects are 
man-made, and their founders were certainly not 
conspicuous for sanctity. Why, Protestant his- 
torians try to excuse their scandalous conduct 
on the plea that the age in which they lived was 
very coarse." 

" Well," insisted the proselytizer, " although 
their personal morals may have been rather loose, 
their doctrines were all right." 

" Their doctrines," rejoined Pasqualino, " in- 
stead of being conducive to sanctity, were the 
greatest incentives to pride, avarice, and sensu- 
ality. Their initial act was religious anarchy, 



SANCTITY 115 

for they substituted the private judgment of 
each individual for the divinely established au- 
thority of the Church. Justification by faith 
alone eliminates every motive for the practice of 
good works. Luther declared that no sin except 
unbelief can cause damnation; that man is justi- 
fied by faith alone without anything else. By 
faith he understands a mere reliance on Christ 
for pardon. That repentance, love of God, of 
our neighbor, and other good works are not only 
useless but even hurtful to justification. In his 
book on Slave Will he denied that man possessed 
moral freedom. Calvin asserted that God is the 
author of sin and at the same time its avenger ; 
that there is no falling from divine grace, but 
that once in grace always in grace, no matter how 
grievous the sins one might afterwards commit. 
He also maintained that God has consigned some 
men, independently of their acts and without 
any fault of their own, to everlasting perdition. 
Every Protestant denomination has sanctioned 
the gangrene of divorce, which undermines the 
family and flagrantly violates our Lord's ex- 
press prohibition. How can any candid Prot- 
estant have the courage to affirm that such doc- 
trines are conducive to holiness ? " 

" Many Protestant churches have the sacra- 
ments just the same as the Catholics/' said the 
evangelist. 



n6 MEMOIRS OF ZI PRE 

u Oh, no, they haven , t, ,, replied Pasqualino. 
" A few of the sacraments, such as Baptism, 
Confirmation, Holy Eucharist, and Penance may 
be found in a mutilated form among certain sects. 
They never received any authorization from 
Christ to administer them. The sacraments can- 
not be regarded as a means of sanctification un- 
less they be worthily received and properly ad- 
ministered. The same may be said of the Bible. 
We believe it to be divinely inspired, and useful 
for teaching, correcting, and instructing in jus- 
tice. But it cannot be a means of sanctification 
merely as a dead letter. It can only benefit us 
when explained and interpreted in its true sense 
by the Church appointed by Christ as its custo- 
dian and lawful interpreter. The mere fact, of 
possessing a good thing proves nothing in many 
cases unless that the possessor happens to retain 
something which doesn't really belong to him." 

" Well/' demanded the evangelist, " if the 
Catholic Church has such an exclusive monop- 
oly of holy doctrines and means of sanctification, 
how does it happen that we find so many good 
people among Protestants ? " 

" That is easily answered," replied Pasqualino. 
" They are good in spite of their Protestantism, 
and not as a result of it. ' A bad tree cannot 
produce good fruit/ They do not carry out 
their false principles to their legitimate conclu- 



SANCTITY 117 

sions. They follow rather the dictates of nat- 
ural sense of right and wrong, and fortunately 
adhere to certain portions of Catholic faith still 
surviving among them. The Catholic Church 
alone is entitled to the distinguishing mark of 
sanctity. She is the greatest moral force in the 
world to-day. She inculcates respect for au- 
thority. In time of national peril you will al- 
ways find her children in the front exposing 
their lives in defense of their country. Divorce, 
which threatens to undermine the State, she for- 
bids to the capitalist just as well as to the laborer. 
In the confessional, that much abused and slan- 
dered institution, the plutocrat is bound to re- 
store ill-gotten goods, just as well as the indigent 
and outcast. She is the church of the toiling 
masses, and in accordance with the prediction of 
her Divine Founder, the poor she has always 
with her to whom she preaches the gospel." 



CHAPTER XIII 

CATHOLICITY 

"TTTHAT right has your church to call 
\\ herself Catholic?" asked the prose- 
lytizer. " Romish or Popish would be a far more 
appropriate title." 

" Sneers and opprobrious epithets," retorted 
Pasqualino, " assume the importance of argu- 
ments in the estimation of only the ignorant, 
usually declaring him victor who succeeds in ap- 
plying the vilest name to his opponent. The 
Church has a right to call herself Catholic be- 
cause she subsists in all ages, teaches all nations, 
and maintains all truth. She is Catholic in time, 
place, and doctrine. Catholic in time is simply 
another way of designating her indefectibility 
and perpetuity, viz. : that the Church as Christ 
founded it will last till the end of time. Catho- 
licity of doctrine naturally follows from unity of 
faith. Everywhere she both believes and teaches 
all the doctrines, and administers all the means 
of sanctification established by Christ. In claim- 
ing the Church to be Catholic in place, we imply 

118 



CATHOLICITY 119 

that she is not restricted to a portion of the earth 
or to a few nationalities, like the Oriental sects, 
Judaism, Mahomedanism, or Protestantism, but 
that she is actually diffused over the whole earth, 
and counts her children among all nations." 

u Do you think that there are many Catholics 
in Denmark, Norway, Sweden, or Scotland ? " 
asked the proselytizer. 

" Not so many as among other nationalities," 
rejoined Pasqualino. " Our Lord did not pre- 
dict that His Church must exist simultaneously 
in all parts of the globe. Heresies were pre- 
dicted and they exclude physical universality. 
' There shall be a time when they shall not endure 
sound doctrine; but according to their own de- 
sires they w T ill heap to themselves teachers, hav- 
ing itching ears, and will indeed turn their hear- 
ing away from truth, but will be turned unto fa- 
bles.' " (Tim. ii, 4-3.) 

" It is quality and not quantity that counts," 
said the proselytizer. " If Christ intended His 
Church to have the universality that you claim, 
He never would have designated it by diminu- 
tive terms. ' Fear not, little flock/ He ex- 
claimed, ' for it hath pleased your Father to give 
you a kingdom/ " (Luke xii, 32.) 

l( Our Lord," replied Pasqualino, " addressed 
those words exclusively to the Apostles who were 
certainly few in number. Even granting that He 



120 MEMOIRS OF ZI PRE' 

referred to all His followers, they were at that 
time few and indeed a little flock, when compared 
to the number of unbelievers. Adam and Eve 
were the only persons created life-size. The rest 
of us are born babies and must gradually develop 
into manhood. We don't claim actual univer- 
sality for the Church in her infancy." 

" But," insisted the proselytizer, " if Catholic- 
ity be an essential and distinguishing mark of 
the Church, she could never be without it. Yet 
Christ declared that at the end of the world very 
few believers will be found." 

" We only claim for the Church of Christ," 
answered Pasqualino, " the extension of catholic- 
ity which He promised — ■ no more and no less. 
The nature of that promise we learn from Holy 
Scripture. If the inspired writings indicate that 
she shall be considerably diminished during the 
time of Antichrist, that doesn't destroy her cath- 
olicity. In fact the fulfillment of the prophecy 
is a confirmation of her divine origin." 

" The Bible says nothing about the Church be- 
coming Catholic," commented the proselytizer. 

" I am afraid that you never read it very at- 
tentively," replied Pasqualino. " The Church's 
destination for actual extension was repeatedly 
indicated by her Divine Founder. ' Going there- 
fore teach ye all nations. Go ye into the whole 



CATHOLICITY 121 

world and preach the gospel to every creature/ 
The prophets represent the kingdom of Christ, 
viz. : the Church as embracing all the nations of 
the earth. ' He shall rule from sea to sea. All 
the kings of the earth shall adore Him. All na- 
tions shall serve Him.' (Ps. lxxi.) The Lord 
hath said tome:' Thou art my son, this day have 
I begotten thee. Ask of me and I will give thee 
the Gentiles for thy inheritance, and the utmost 
parts of the earth for thy possession.' The 
prophet foreshadowed the universality of the 
Church when he wrote : ' From the rising of the 
sun even to the going down my name is great 
among the Gentiles, and in every place there is 
sacrifice and there is offered to my name a clean 
oblation.' Our Savior predicted that His gospel 
would be preached to every creature. Speaking 
of Mary Magdalen when she bathed His feet 
with her tears, dried them with her hair, and 
anointed them with balsam and precious oint- 
ments, He declared : ' Amen I say to you, where- 
soever this gospel shall be preached in the whole 
world, that also which she hath done, shall be 
told for a memory of her.' Before His ascen- 
sion, He said : ' You shall be witnesses to me in 
Jerusalem and Samaria and even to the utter- 
most part of the earth.' " 

" Protestant churches," asserted the prosely- 



122 MEMOIRS OF ZI PRE' 

tizer, " have their missionaries in every part of 
the globe. Hence they are just as universal as 
your church/' 

" Yes/' rejoined Pasqualino, " in every part 
of the globe where there is little or no danger to 
fear from climate or natives. They are usually 
accompanied by wives and families. It would 
never do to expose the ladies and little ones to 
privation and hardship. Among them you will 
never find a Father Damien who a few years ago 
sacrificed his life in caring for the leper colony 
of Molokai. 

" The expenditure of money on their foreign 
missions is enormous while the results obtained 
are insignificant. Contrast their converts at 
home with those of the Catholic Church. Their 
most distinguished members have entered the 
• one true fold/ while apostate Catholics are 
usually intemperate, disreputable characters, nox- 
ious weeds cast out of the Pope's garden." 

" Well, I fail to see," said the proselytizer, 
" how mere multitudes can prove the divine ori- 
gin of a religion. Buddhism then must be divine 
because its adherents far outnumber the Chris- 
tians." 

" If the 250 million members of the Catholic 
Church," replied Pasqualino, " were crowded 
into one corner of the earth, like the Buddhists 
in Asia, and belonged to one race, one national- 



CATHOLICITY 123 

ity, the name Catholic would be a misnomer. 
The note of Catholicity lies in the fact that the 
large membership of the one true Church is not 
confined to the Turkish, Russian, or any other 
empire, but comprises many different nationali- 
ties, characters of opposite temperaments, tastes, 
and customs. Thus we see realized in the Catho- 
lic Church the prophecy of Isaias : * The wolf 
shall dwell with the lamb ; and the leopard shall 
lie down with the kid ; the calf, the lion and the 
sheep shall lie down together, and a little child 
shall lead them.' " (xi, 7.) 

" If your Church," exclaimed the proselytizer, 
" be composed of so many different nationalities, 
her name — - Roman Catholic,' is a contradiction 
in terms, because Roman is indicative of a single 
city." 

" The term — ' Roman Church/ " responded 
Pasqualino, " may be misunderstood, if its ori- 
gin be not clearly kept in mind. The Church of 
Christ is essentially one. It is therefore suffi- 
ciently denoted by the simple expression — THE 
CHURCH, just as we speak of the sun or the 
moon. But men began claiming the name of 
Church for other organizations. Hence to avoid 
equivocation, other expressions were introduced 
to distinguish the one true Church from her 
rivals. ' Whether they wish or no/ says St. 
Augustine, ' heretics have to call the Catholic 



124 MEMOIRS OF ZI PRE' 

Church, Catholic. Although they all wish to be 
styled Catholic, yet if anyone asks where is the 
Catholic place of worship, none of them would 
venture- to point out his own conventicle/ Since 
the reformation the term Roman has been used 
to designate the one true Church, because its 
members alone are in communion with Rome, 
the centre of unity. Hence the appellation — 
Roman, instead of restricting the universality of 
the Church, calls attention to her unity of faith 
and government. Ours is the only Church offi- 
cially known throughout the universe as Catho- 
lic. She alone is ' that city seated on a mountain, 
the city that cannot be hid/ as predicted by the 
prophets. She therefore must be the institution 
to which the Apostles referred when in their 
Creed they penned the words : ' I believe in the 
Holy, Catholic Church.' " 



CHAPTER XIV 

APOSTOLICITY 

"T ADMIT/' said the evangelist, " that the 

X. Church founded by Christ must be one 
holy, and Catholic. The arguments which you 
have adduced in support of these three notes are 
very cogent. Anyone undertaking to refute 
them will have a difficult task." 

" There is another characteristic feature of 
the one true Church," remarked Pasqualino, 
" just as essential as the three we have already 
discussed." 

" Which one is that ? " asked the evangelist. 

" Apostolicity which, in a general sense, is not 
really distinct from the notes and attributes of 
the Church, but rather their continual and per- 
manent existence," replied Pasqualino. " That 
church alone is apostolic which can be identified 
with the one founded by Christ upon the Apos- 
tles and governed by their lawful successors." 

' You surely do not mean identified, but sim- 
ilar to the Apostolic Church," suggested the evan- 
gelist. 

125 



126 MEMOIRS OF Zl PRE' 

" Oh, yes, I mean identified, and not merely 
similar/' rejoined Pasqualino. " It was the sim- 
ilarity and not the identity of the Antipholuses 
and Dromios that caused the comedy of errors. 
In order to avoid similar mistakes the one true 
Church must have identically the same origin, the 
same doctrine, and the same Apostolic succes- 
sion. In fact apostolic succession presupposes 
and implies apostolic origin and doctrine. The 
word apostle signifies ' a person sent with com- 
mands.' Bishops can be truthfully called Apos- 
tolic heirs or successors only in so far as they 
inherit from the Apostles their legacy of faith, 
their power of teaching and ruling the Church. 
The Apostles were mortal men subject to death 
the same as the rest of us. Yet they received a 
perpetual mission which was to be carried on by 
their successors until the end of time. It is this 
hereditary succession or mission inherited by the 
bishops from the Apostles that constitutes a vis- 
ible mark of the one, true Church." 

" The schismatic Greek and Anglican bishops," 
said the evangelist, " are successors of the Apos- 
tles. Hence they have just as much apostolic 
succession as Catholic bishops." 

" Oh, no, they haven't," responded Pasqualino. 
" Leo XIII declared the Anglican orders invalid 
in his famous bull ' Apostolicae Curae.' In the 
Apostolic successor two things must be consid- 



APOSTOLICITY 127 

ered : consecration and mission. Hence the two- 
fold power of orders and jurisdiction. The 
power of orders can never be lost. The priestly 
and episcopal character remains in the soul for- 
ever like the indelible spiritual mark of Baptism 
and Confirmation. Those acts performed by the 
power of orders are always valid. An excom- 
municated or suspended priest although sacri- 
legiously celebrating Mass, would validly conse- 
crate. An heretical or schismatic bishop could 
validly consecrate another bishop, provided he 
observed the matter and form of the sacrament 
and had the intention of doing what the Church 
does. Jurisdiction however can be lost, and the 
juridical acts unlawfully performed are null and 
void. A deposed bishop or priest in ordinary 
circumstances does not possess the faculty to ab- 
solve, which would be an act of jurisdiction. 
Should either one attempt to do so, the absolution 
would be worthless, A schismatic bishop cannot 
impart jurisdiction, for no one can give what he 
does not possess. Jurisdiction is enjoyed only 
by those in communion with the centre of unity, 
the visible head of the Church. A person re- 
fusing to adhere to the centre of unity, ceases 
to be a member of Christ's mystic body. He is 
outside the Church. Those on the outside have 
certainly no authority to rule or govern the 
Church." 



128 MEMOIRS OF ZI PRE 9 

" So long as the Protestant ministers preach 
the Gospel of Christ," said the evangelist, " they 
impart apostolic doctrine, and that is all the apos- 
tolic succession they require." 

" St. Paul doesn't think so," rejoined Pasqual- 
ino. " ' Neither doth any man take the honor to 
himself, but he that is called by God as Aaron 
was.' In this passage he evidently condemns all 
self-appointed preachers and reformers. c How 
can they preach unless they be sent ? ' he asks, 
and sent by legitimate authority ? Notwithstand- 
ing this inspired prohibition, you will find even 
woman revivalists preaching in Methodist and 
other meeting houses with the sanction of the 
church elders. Imagine an individual presenting 
himself at the Court of St. James, Paris, Berlin, 
or Vienna, and assuming the role of American 
consul or ambassador without brief or creden- 
tials from the U. S. Government, what kind of a 
reception would he get ? " 

" A rather chilly one," answered the evangelist. 

" Everybody would justly regard him," con- 
tinued Pasqualino, " as either an impostor or a 
lunatic. Likewise no man should usurp the of- 
fice of ambassador or minister of Christ, unless 
divinely commissioned, unless he received his 
ministerial power of orders and jurisdiction from 
the chosen twelve Apostles or their lawful suc- 
cessors." 



APOSTOLICITY 129 

" Since apostolicity," said the evangelist, " con- 
sists in doctrinal and not in ministerial succes- 
sion, it is a mark that all Christian denomina- 
tions have in common." 

" But it doesn't consist exclusively in doctrinal 
succession," rejoined Pasqualino. " We cannot 
have the same faith taught by the Apostles ex- 
cept through an unbroken chain of Apostolic 
teachers. ' Faith cometh by hearing. How 
shall they hear without a preacher? And 
how shall they preach unless they are sent ? ' 
(Rom. x.) 

"If all Christian churches claim to be Apos- 
tolic," persisted the evangelist, " how can we 
ever ascertain which one of them is really enti- 
tled to our belief ? " 

" By carefully examining their claims and 
adhering to that one alone which is Apos- 
tolic in origin, faith, and ministry," responded 
Pasqualino. " All the Protestant churches, with- 
out a single exception, are of comparatively re- 
cent birth. They sprang into existence 1,600 
years after Our Lord's ascension into heaven. 
He can therefore say to them : ' I know you 
not/ Their very names betray their origin. 
They are buildings erected upon a foundation 
different from the one laid by Jesus Christ. 
That the Catholic Church was founded by Christ 
upon the Apostles is admitted by all Protestants 



130 MEMOIRS OF ZI PRE 

with any pretensions to scholarship. She cer- 
tainly has an Apostolic ministry." 

" To me it doesn't appear so certain," com- 
mented the evangelist. 

" Well, kindly let me make it clear to you/' 
said Pasqualino. " The history of the primitive 
church proves that the Apostolic successors 
were not self-appointed, but received their minis- 
terial faculties through imposition of hands. 
* When they (Paul and Barnabas) had ordained 
to them priests in every church, and had prayed 
with fasting, they commended them to the Lord.' 
(Acts xiv, 22.) In his Epistle to Titus St. Paul 
declares : ' For this cause I left thee in 
Crete, that thou shouldst ordain priests in every 
city, as I also appointed thee/ Even St. Paul 
himself, though miraculously called, was directed 
to Ananias, who imparted to him the Holy Ghost 
through the imposition of hands, lest others 
should be tempted by his example to preach with- 
out apostolic authorization/' 

" How can you prove that popes and bishops 
are really Apostolic successors ? " asked the evan- 
gelist. 

" The pope," replied Pasqualino, " is the law- 
ful successor of St. Peter, and consequently the 
visible head of the Church. Why? Because to 
St. Peter alone our Lord gave universal jurisdic- 
tion over His Church. Because St. Peter first 



APOSTOLICITY 131 

established the Church in the city of Rome. If 
then the Roman See be truly apostolic and the 
centre of unity, every diocese in union with 
Rome must also be Apostolic. Every bishop 
therefore can trace his lineage back to the Apos- 
tles, just as the most remote branch of a vine can 
be followed back to the main stem. The pres- 
ent gloriously reigning Pius X, Bishop of Rome, 
is the successor of Leo XIII ; he succeeded Pius 
IX, who came after Gregory XVI. And thus 
we can go back century after century to the time 
when Our Lord said to Peter : ' Thou art Peter 
and upon this rock I will build my Church, and 
the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.' 
Like St. Luke tracing our Lord's genealogy back 
to Adam and to God, so the Apostolic succession 
of the present pontiff can be followed back to 
Peter and to Christ." 

" What about the doctrine of the Apostles ? " 
asked the evangelist. " Do you really believe 
that they taught Papal infallibility, indulgences, 
invocation of saints, the Immaculate Conception, 
and all those other monstrous innovations which 
the Roman Church has added to the original de- 
posit of faith? n 

Poor Pasqualino was totally unprepared for 
such an onslaught and the color began to mount 
in his cheeks. After some hesitation and with 
an effort to hide his embarrassment he said : 



132 MEMOIRS OF ZI PRE 

" Really I haven't time to give a complete an- 
swer to that question to-day, as I must go home. 
Later on we can examine each one of those so- 
called additions in detail. I think that I shall 
be able to prove that, instead of being new arti- 
cles of faith, they are doctrines implicitly con- 
tained either in the Bible or in Apostolic tradi- 
tions. We can discuss them next Thursday. 
Addio." 



CHAPTER XV 

VISIBLE HEAD OF THE CHURCH 

<TT"^HAT was a narrow escape," thought 
JL Pasqualino, as he wended his way 
through the park to his uncle's house. The dis- 
cussion would have become rather embarrassing 
had it lasted much longer, for he was totally un- 
prepared to answer the questions proposed by the 
evangelist. He firmly resolved to be fully 
equipped for the next encounter. With his tal- 
ent for languages Pasqualino experienced little 
difficulty in preparing the Latin and Greek exer- 
cises for his daily class work. He had, there- 
fore, plenty of time to devote to the study of 
apologetics. So absorbed did he become in the 
defense of doctrinal points which he deemed lia- 
ble to future attack that he could scarcely think 
or speak of anything else. From the abundance 
of the heart the mouth speaketh. In recreation 
with his companions he ingeniously diverted the 
topic of their conversation from batting averages 
and relative merits of base ball clubs to the solu- 
tion of the theological problems besetting his 

133 



134 MEMOIRS OF ZI PRE 9 

mind. Do not imagine that our youthful hero 
had any aversion to play — which, indeed, would 
be altogether abnormal in a lad of his age. No 
student was fonder of it than Pasqualino. He 
had, however, very decided tastes in the selection 
of his amusements as well as of his studies. Be 
it said to his discredit that never would he have 
shed a tear had algebra, trigonometry and cal- 
culus been eliminated from the college course. 
Neither cards nor pool appealed to him, for they 
were the popular games of saloon frequenters. 
This peculiar notion he probably derived from 
Zi Pre', for whom billiards was not merely a pas- 
time but an emotion with which he strove to im- 
bue the altar boys. The directors of the quon- 
dam flourishing Columbus Club presented the 
priest with a regulation sized table upon which 
the famous " wizard of the cue," Jake Schaefer, 
had once given an exhibition of fancy shots. 
It was installed in the largest room of the rec- 
tory and upon it Pasqualino was occasionally 
allowed to practice. He soon became quite an 
adept in the follow, draw and dead ball The 
masse shot he never mastered, which even to at- 
tempt would have been felonious. If there were 
to be any punctures of the cloth Zi Pre' was fully 
competent to make them himself. Outdoor 
sports had for Pasqualino a still greater attrac- 
tion, such as skating, horseback riding and swim- 



VISIBLE HEAD OF THE CHURCH 135 

ming. But he never made a toil of his pleasures 
and used them judiciously as a break in the mo- 
notony of his intellectual pursuits. It was about 
the middle of June, and the weather had become 
quite sultry. The following Thursday found 
Pasqualino at the Diversey bathing beach an hour 
ahead of time in order to enjoy a refreshing 
swim before entering the arena of polemics. 
After he had been in the water for about twenty 
minutes, he swam out to the diving platform 
which he nimbly mounted and sprawled out at 
full length on the top of it for a sun bath. Very 
few had taken advantage of the beach at that 
hour. Looking towards the land he espied his 
evangelical friend standing near the water's edge 
and watching him intently. " Surely he cannot 
recognize me in a bathing suit from that dis- 
tance," thought Pasqualino. He did not relish 
a dive from the height of twenty feet, for he 
imagined that the sensation produced would be 
somewhat akin to falling several stories through 
the shaft of an elevator. Yet what could he do ? 
There was that evangelist scrutinizing him from 
the shore, and how cowardly it would look if he 
crawled down the ladder again to the water's 
surface! Human respect triumphed. He 
walked out boldly to the end of the springboard, 
as if it were a daily occurrence. Hesitating a 
moment to utter a fervent ejaculation that his 



I3'6 MEMOIRS OF ZI PRE 9 

neck might not be broken, he dived in and headed 
for the shore. 

" Why, how do you do ! " he exclaimed, as he 
landed on the beach. " I did not think that you 
would come so early. Please wait for me until 
I am dried and dressed. It won't take more 
than ten minutes." Whereupon Pasqualino 
passed through the turnstile and proceeded to his 
locker. It did not take him long to don his 
clothes. After he emerged and joined his 
friend, the latter remarked : " I am now fully 
convinced that you are really a doctor of dive- 
inity." 

" Thank you for the compliment," laughed 
Pasqualino, " I am merely a tyro. I do wish 
that you would meet our parish priest He 
could certainly answer all your objections." 

" My dear young friend," commented the 
evangelist, " I do not think that even he could 
improve upon the arguments you advanced 
against the reformation at our last meeting. 
They have set me to thinking. Whom do you 
regard as the head of your Church?" 

" The invisible head of the Church," said Pas- 
qualino, " is its founder, Jesus Christ. Before 
His ascension into Heaven He sent the Apostles 
to preach His gospel, with the assurance that 
He would assist them from Heaven until the 
end of time. '.Behold, I am with you all days 



VISIBLE HEAD OF THE CHURCH 137 

until the consummation of the world/ The vis- 
ible head of the Church was St. Peter and the 
uninterrupted line of popes who succeeded him 
down to the present gloriously reigning pontiff, 
Pius X." 

" Poor deluded Catholics," exclaimed the 
evangelist. " Why do they wrong thus the Sav- 
ior, as if He couldn't rule the Church from 
Heaven, and needed someone to take His place 
on earth ! " 

" Oh, don't feel so bad about it," begged Pas- 
qualino. " When God establishes a thing, we 
have no right to whine or complain why He did 
it, but simply to ascertain what He did. He 
might have converted the whole world by a single 
act of His omnipotent will, but He preferred to 
make St. Peter the head of His Church. It was 
therefore necessary to let St. Peter have a suc- 
cessor as head of that institution." 

" But," insisted the evangelist, " doesn't God 
alone suffice to govern His Church ? What need 
is there of human help when we have divine as- 
sistance ? " 

" It sounds as if you merely wish to quibble," 
rejoined Pasqualino. " The manner in which 
God established His Church demands a visible 
head. In the gospel the Church is compared to 
a great family which in every age must receive 
all those wishing to join it. The Church is es- 



138 MEMOIRS OF ZI PRE 

sentially one, and without a governing head 
the members would be speedily separated 
into sects the same as Protestantism. The 
Church is holy, but how could the members 
of every tribe and nation preserve sanctity 
of doctrine and morals without a visible head 
which in the name of God and with His 
assistance distinguishes truth from error, vice 
from virtue? The Church is Catholic or uni- 
versal, but how could the members scattered 
over the earth unite in the same faith, cult and 
sacraments if there was lacking a head to bind 
them together? The Church is Apostolic, but 
how could she ever be recognized as such with- 
out a visible successor and custodian of the 
truths inherited from the Apostles?" 

" What you say," replied the evangelist, 
" proves that our Lord made St. Peter the head of 
the Church ; but after he and the other Apostles 
died, the gospel had been preached throughout 
the world. Hence there was no further need of 
a visible head or of a successor to St. Peter." 

" From what I said," rejoined Pasqualino, 
" two things necessarily follow : Christ founded 
a Church that should last until the end of time, 
and as head of that Church He appointed St. 
Peter who should govern it during his whole 
life. Since the Church was destined to continue 
after St. Peter's death, a successor was needed 



VISIBLE HEAD OF THE CHURCH 139 

to govern it. The nation is not made for the 
ruler, but the ruler is appointed to govern the 
nation and keep it from going to pieces. Like- 
wise, the Church was not established for the 
benefit of the Pope, but he is elected to rule the 
Church, and so long as it lasts there will be a 
visible head called the Pope. Do you think that 
the family should govern the head of the house, 
or vice versa? " 

11 Undoubtedly the head of the house was 
made to govern the family," responded the evan- 
gelist. 

u And how long should there be a head to rule 
the family ? " asked Pasqualino. 

" As long as the family exists, otherwise it 
would disintegrate," replied the evangelist. 

" And when the head of the family dies ? " 
continued Pasqualino. 

" Then," rejoined the evangelist, " the eldest 
son, if he amounts to anything, or some other 
competent member becomes the head of the 
family." 

fl But imagine a family destined to last until 
the end of time; how could it be best pre- 
served ? " 

" By having a good head to govern it," an- 
swered the evangelist. 

f,i I hope," ventured Pasqualino, *' that you 
perceive who this head and family are." 



140 MEMOIRS OF ZI PRE 

" Oh, I see them clearly enough," replied the 
evangelist. " It is a strong argument in favor 
of the Catholic Church considered as a great 
family. I used to believe it when a Catholic; 
but since joining the Evangelical church I think 
it a great mistake to regard the Pope as the suc- 
cessor of St. Peter. Nobody can prove it. I 
have asked that question a dozen times and have 
never received a satisfactory answer." 

" Well, listen to me patiently," said Pas- 
qualino, " while I try to give you one. You 
have already admitted two things, viz. : that our 
Lord appointed St. Peter the head of His 
Church, and that St. Peter after his death should 
be succeeded by another visible head in the gov- 
ernment of the Church." 

" Just a moment," interposed the evangelist. 
" Quote a single text proving that St. Peter lived 
and died in Rome." 

" I shall," rejoined Pasqualino, " after you 
have indicated a single text proving that the 
Lord's Day was changed from the Jewish Sab- 
bath to Sunday. A great many things occurred 
in the Apostolic age that are not recorded in the 
Bible. How do you account for the universal 
belief of Christendom in the facts that St. Peter 
was Rome's first Bishop; that he first converted 
the Romans, and that in Rome he suffered mar- 
tyrdom? In his letter to the Romans St. Paul 



VISIBLE HEAD OF THE CHURCH 141 

declared that ' their faith was spoken of in the 
whole world/ If St. Peter did not convert 
them, who did ? " 

" In his letter to the Romans, why did not St. 
Paul convey his greetings to St. Peter, if he were 
really their Bishop ? " asked the evangelist. 

" That," said Pasqualino, " is at best a nega- 
tive argument and cannot be urged as a refuta- 
tion of facts asserted by positive evidence. In 
his letter to the Ephesians we find no greetings 
to St. John, Bishop of Ephesus, nor in the 
Epistle to the Hebrews do we discover any salu- 
tations to St. James, Bishop of Jerusalem. 
Would you, therefore, conclude that St. John 
and St. James were not Bishops of the cities 
mentioned? We must attach more importance 
to the testimony of a few reliable persons assert- 
ing a fact than to the silence of a hundred indi- 
viduals who do not deny what the witnesses 
assert. All historians, heretical as well as Cath- 
olic, admit the marvelous succession of Roman 
Pontiffs from St. Peter down to the present 
Pope. If there be any difference of opinion 
among them, it doesn't concern the facts of St. 
Peter's sojourn and martyrdom in Rome, but 
the exact time in which those events occurred. 
If you wish to be thoroughly convinced, come 
over to Guardian Angel Mission next Thursday 
morning and get our Pastor's views on the sub- 



142 MEMOIRS OF ZI PRE' 

ject He is much better qualified than I to im- 
part information. " 

With this final injunction Pasqualino started 
homeward. 



CHAPTER XVI 

INFALLIBILITY 

44 1 TERE he comes !" exclaimed Pasqualino 

JfjL one Thursday morning, as he peered 
through the rectory window and espied his 
friend, the evangelist, at the gate. The latter, 
after some hesitation, entered the yard and pro- 
ceeded up the cement walk to the front door al- 
ready opened by Pasqualino who stood upon the 
threshold to welcome him. " Come right in ! " 
said the young man to him encouragingly. " I 
know that the priest will be glad to see you." 

The evangelist owned that his last reception 
at the rectory was not over-enthusiastic. 

" Walk in ! " shouted the priest, rising from 
his desk and proceeding to the door to greet his 
visitor. " If I mistake not, the last time you 
called here was on a Sunday afternoon and you 
found me preoccupied with the closing of the 
Mission." 

" Well, I came this morning," ventured the 
evangelist, " at the urgent request of this young 
man who claims that you are a walking encyclo- 

i43 



144 MEMOIRS OF ZI PRE' 

paedia and fully able to solve any difficulty I 
may propose." 

" Quite a flattering compliment/ ' rejoined Zi 
Pre'. " Pasqualino has certainly no small opin- 
ion of his pastor's ability. In case of failure to 
solve your difficulties you may safely ascribe it 
to my lack of knowledge, and not to any dearth 
of reasons which may easily be found in any 
standard work of Catholic theology. Please sit 
down and make yourself at home." 

Pasqualino took the stranger's hat to hang 
upon the hall tree, while the latter planted him- 
self comfortably in a Morris chair near the 
window. 

" What seems to be your chief difficulty ? " 
asked the priest. 

."Oh, it isn't one, but a hundred of them," 
avowed the evangelist. " I don't believe in 
papal infallibility, purgatory, invocation of saints, 
indulgences, immaculate concep — " 

" You needn't complete the list," interrupted 
the priest, " otherwise we may not have time to 
finish. Just let us take up your difficulties, one 
by one, and thus avoid confusion. Do you be- 
lieve that the present Pope Benedict XV is the 
successor of St. Peter ? " 

" Oh, I grant that he lawfully succeeded St. 
Peter," replied the evangelist, "but that is no 
reason why he should be clothed with a divine 



INFALLIBILITY 145 

attribute. God alone is infallible. To err is 
human, and the Pope is subject to human frail- 
ties the same as the rest of men." 

" God alone is essentially infallible/' said the 
priest, " just as He alone is essentially good, wise 
and holy. There is nothing to prevent Him 
from communicating His goodness, wisdom, 
holiness and other perfections in various degrees 
to His creatures as He thinks fit and proper. 
The present Pope is no more prone to human 
frailties than his predecessor St. Peter and the 
other Apostles. Don't you regard them as in- 
fallible?" 

" Having been chosen directly by our Lord 
Himself," rejoined the evangelist, " they were 
inspired men, and altogether different from their 
successors." 

" Did our Lord command us to believe His 
gospel, or did he not?" asked the priest. 

" I have no trouble in believing His gospel," 
answered the evangelist. " My difficulty is be- 
lieving in popes and bishops who are fallible men 
like myself." 

i You assume the same attitude," commented 
the priest, " as the individual asserting : ' I ber 
lieve in the constitution of the United States, 
but I place no confidence in the decisions of the 
Supreme Court, because they are rendered by 
citizens like myself.' The teaching body of the 



146 MEMOIRS OF ZI PRE' 

Church is composed of the Pope, bishops, and 
priests — men like the rest of mortals in many 
ways, yet differing from them in other respects." 

" I never detected much difference between 
them and ordinary laymen," said the evangelist. 

" Well," rejoined the priest, " they differ from 
the laity in the fact that our Lord invested them 
with spiritual power and divine authority. He 
divided His Church into two great classes — the 
instructors and the instructed, the spiritual gov- 
ernors and the spiritually governed. The for- 
mer were divinely commissioned to teach, rule 
and administer the means of sanctification. The 
latter were obliged to learn, obey and receive 
these means, viz.: the sacraments. Of those 
teachers our Lord saith : * He that heareth you, 
heareth me ; he that despiseth you, despiseth me. 
He that heareth not the Church, let him be to 
thee as the heathen and the publican/ The be- 
lief of the members corresponds as an effect to 
the teaching authority and must therefore be the 
same as it holds. As there always will be a 
vast multitude professing the true faith, so there 
must always exist a teaching body announcing 
it. Thus we are careful ' to keep the unity of 
the spirit in the bond of peace, one faith, one 
baptism, one Lord, one God, one Father of all/ " 

" Catholics believe that the Pope couldn't 
make a mistake if he tried, don't they ? " 



INFALLIBILITY 147 

"A person in his exalted position will never 
try to make a mistake," responded the priest. 
" Catholics firmly believe that the Church 
teaches infallibly when through the Pope and 
bishops collectively, or when through the Pope 
alone as universal pastor, she announces a doc- 
trine of faith or morals. The bishops may be 
viewed either as dispersed in their dioceses, or 
assembled in a general council. In either case, 
•provided they be united with the visible head of 
the Church, the Bishop of Rome, their pro- 
nouncement on matters of doctrine and morality 
is authoritative and infallible." 

" Why shouldn't their judgment be just as 
authoritative when they differ with the Pope ? " 
demanded the evangelist. " Are they not Apos- 
tolic successors as well as he ? " 

" Because," replied the priest, " the office of 
teaching infallibly was never given or even men- 
tioned by our Lord to the Apostles without their 
leader, St. Peter, being present. Individually 
they were inspired as well as infallible. This 
two-fold prerogative was necessary for the first 
founders of the Church. It wasn't so necessary 
after the Church became firmly established. 
The Apostles were also infallible collectively, as, 
for example, when they met in council at Jeru- 
salem. This collective infallibility was needed 
for the Church's preservation in the purity and 



143 MEMOIRS OF ZI PRE' 

integrity of her doctrines, just as much as the 
power to preach, baptize, confirm and ordain. 
Hence there exists the strongest presumption 
that infallibility along with other ministerial 
powers must have been transmitted to the 
Church. This presumptive evidence can only be 
destroyed by the strongest reasons to the con- 
trary. The Church was in undisputed posses- 
sion. How can she be justly dispossessed of it? 
Every text bearing on the formation and estab- 
lishment of the Church favors the transmission 
of that prerogative." 

" I have read the New Testament over and 
over," said the evangelist, " and I wish that you 
would point out a single text favoring infalli- 
bility." 

" You certainly are familiar with the text of 
St. Matthew," remarked the priest. " ' Go ye 
therefore and teach all nations all things what- 
soever I have commanded. And behold, I am 
with you all days even to the consummation of 
the world/ Notice the expression, ' I am with 
you.' What does it mean ? " 

" What, indeed ! " echoed the evangelist, col- 
oring with embarrassment. 

" It means help or assistance," continued the 
priest. " God often used it in speaking to His 
patriarchs and prophets, and invariably He 
thereby meant to help them in a special man- 



INFALLIBILITY 149 

ner. What imaginable help could the Son of 
God or the Holy Ghost render the Apostles and 
their successors in preaching the gospel to all 
nations, unless to keep them from teaching false- 
hood ? St. Paul calls the Church ' the pillar and 
ground of truth/ How could he truthfully 
apply such a title to the Church were she capable 
of teaching false doctrine? Don't you think that 
it would be incompatible with Divine Wisdom 
and Mercy to deny mankind in the all-important 
affair of salvation the certainty granted in mathe- 
matics, physics and the natural sciences ? " 

"Well, I find it hard to believe," said the 
evangelist, " that Popes like Alexander VI and 
a few more were gifted with infallibility." 

" Why ? " asked the priest. 

" Because they were so wicked/' rejoined the 
evangelist. 

u You confound infallibility with impecca- 
bility/' said the priest. " The unfailing assist- 
ance of the Holy Spirit was directly intended 
not for the Pope's personal sanctification, but 
for the guidance of his judgment. Solomon, 
Balaam, Jonas and Caiaphas were not very edify- 
ing in their conduct, yet they infallibly prophe- 
sied the truth. Many of the Scribes and Phari- 
sees were wicked. Yet our Lord said of them: 
'They have sat in the chair of Moses. All 
things whatsoever they shall say to you, observe 



ISO MEMOIRS OF ZI PRE 

and do. But according to their works do ye not, 
for they say and do not.' We claim infallible 
assistance for the Pope only in his official capac- 
ity as universal pastor and visible head of the 
Church. The long series of Roman pontiffs from 
St. Peter down to the gloriously reigning Bene- 
dict XV is composed of most exemplary men. 
During the first three centuries nearly every 
Pope shed his blood for his faith. Out of 260, 
thirty-three were martyred, and eighty-two can- 
onized. Even granting, for the sake of argu- 
ment, that the conduct of four or five was rep- 
rehensible, we have at least fifty-one good 
Popes for every bad one, while there was a 
Judas Iscariot among the twelve Apostles." 

"Don't you think," asked the evangelist, 
" that if our Lord wished to make the Pope in- 
fallible, He would have given some intimation 
of such an extraordinary gift?" 

" As a matter of fact," replied the priest, 
" He did indicate it in unmistakable language. 
' Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build 
my Church, and the gates of Hell shall not pre- 
vail against it.' The Church of which Peter is 
the foundation is declared impregnable, i. e., 
proof against error. ' Whatsoever thou shalt 
bind upon earth shall be bound in Heaven.' 
Since the God of Truth cannot ratify an un- 
truthful judgment, He must, therefore, preserve 



INFALLIBILITY 151 

Peter and his successors from binding the mem- 
bers of the Church to believe an erroneous doc- 
trine, and to believe it under pain of eternal per- 
dition, for He Himself declared : ' He that be- 
lieveth not shall be condemned.' " 

" But didn't the Pope bind the Church to be- 
lieve an erroneous doctrine when he condemned 
Galileo for saying that the earth moved round 
the sun ? " asked the evangelist. 

" Cusa and Copernicus," replied the priest, 
" taught the same system advanced by Galileo a 
century before the latter was born. Cusa was 
made Bishop of Brixen and later Cardinal, while 
Copernicus received a life pension. Urban VIII 
assured Galileo that he would not be molested 
provided that he confined his astronomical argu- 
mentations to physics and mathematics, and let 
the Bible and religion severely alone. This he 
refused to do. Hence the sentence obliging him 
to recite the seven penitential Psalms once a 
week for three years and to remain prisoner at 
the good will of the court. We might ignore 
the objection entirely on the ground that the de- 
cree of the Inquisition was not formally a papal 
document." 



CHAPTER XVII 

VENERATION OF SACRED IMAGES 

"TT^OU remarked to me once," said Pas- 
J[ qualino, " that when a Catholic you be- 
lieved certain doctrines which you rejected after 
you had joined the Protestant church." 

" Oh, not the Protestant, but the Evangelical 
church," corrected the evangelist. " Well, I 
would just like to — " 

" Pardon the interruption," said Zi Pre', " but 
it just occurred to me that we will have quite a 
number of communions to-morrow morning, the 
First Friday of the month. I wish, Pasqualino, 
that you would take that tin box in the sacristy 
to the Sacred Heart Convent, and ask the nuns 
to give you about 150 small particles and a dozen 
large ones. You had better start immediately, 
as they may not have any baked." 

" Very well, Father," replied Pasqualino, 
springing to his feet and hurriedly bowing him- 
self out of the room. After he had closed the 
door the priest turned to the evangelist and said : 
" I am curious to know what prompted you to 

152 



VENERATION OF SACRED IMAGES 153 

abandon the Catholic Church. Was it in order 
to lead a more virtuous or a more vicious 
life?" 

" Why, to lead a more virtuous life," re- 
sponded the evangelist, who suddenly preferred 
to let his gaze wander towards the window 
rather than in the direction of his questioner. 

" That being the case," replied the priest, " I 
would like to venture one more question/' 

" Oh, you can ask all the questions you like," 
blurted the evangelist, shifting his glance from 
the window to the ceiling. 

" When you were a Catholic, did you faithfully 
observe the commandments of God and the pre- 
cepts of the Church?" 

" Well, to be candid," said the evangelist, " I 
used to be fond of amusement like most young 
men, and frequented resorts that I should have 
avoided. My folks were of the old fashioned re- 
ligious type. In fact, I have a brother who is 
an Apostolic missionary in India. I went to con- 
fession regularly and then suddenly quit." 

" What was the trouble? " 

" The priest refused me absolution and told 
me to return the following Saturday. I never 
went back. My people began nagging me; life 
became so intolerable at home that I left and 
came to America. Here I joined the Evangel- 
ists, who were very kind to me and taught me 



154 MEMOIRS OF ZI PRE 

English. I resolved to lead a better life. At 
present I am in a quandary what to do or what 
to believe. In the beginning everything seemed 
so bright and fascinating. It was a relief to 
think I was freed forever from the tyranny of 
confessing my sins to a priest. But now the 
more I study and reflect upon the past, the 
greater anguish and misery I feel. My conver- 
sations with Pasqualino have upset me com- 
pletely. But I am in it, and nothing remains for 
me but to continue." 

" Yes, unfortunately you are in it/' said the 
priest ; " but if you found yourself on the brink 
of a precipice, would you not draw back ? What 
ever induced you to apostatize?" 

" When I landed in New York I had to borrow 
money to come to Chicago. Here a fellow 
townsman, who was an evangelical, obtained em- 
ployment for me in a large statuary concern. 
The foreman placed me alongside this companion 
in the studio where we modeled in clay and gyp- 
sum. We chatted a good deal at our work, and 
one remark of my friend produced upon me 
quite an impression." 

" What was it ? " asked the priest. 

" He said the statues of Christ, the Madonna, 
saints and martyrs which we made, were the 
idols worshipped and adored by our ignorant 
countrymen. Gradually I began to believe that 



VENERATION OF SACRED IMAGES 155 

the Catholic Church had really fallen into idol- 
atry." 

" Oh, no," laughed the priest, " you never be- 
lieved any such nonsense. It was you yourself 
who fell into idolatry." 

" Not in a thousand years ! " exclaimed the 
evangelist, shuffling his feet and wiggling in his 
chair. 

" Oh, yes, you did, and I can prove it," calmly 
rejoined the priest. " Idolatry is giving to a 
creature the worship that belongs to God alone. 
In your youth you became a slave to your pas- 
sions. Instead of co-operating with God's grace 
to overcome them, you simply yielded to every 
sensual desire and inclination. Your vicious 
habits became like so many idols which you wor- 
shipped and adored. The priest evidently de- 
ferred giving you absolution until you showed 
some signs of reform and repentance. Unwill- 
ing to abandon the proximate occasion of sin 
you went over to the Evangelical camp which ex- 
acts no sacramental confession. You may find it 
rather comfortable during life, but woefully be- 
reft of consolation when you come to die. No 
practical Catholic ever apostatizes. You never 
heard of an exemplary virtuous priest becoming 
a Protestant minister. You cannot mention a 
single one. We can, moreover, furnish a 
lengthy list of intelligent, virtuous Protestants, 



15.6 MEMOIRS OF ZI PRE 3 

like the Newmans, Mannings and Fabers who 
have been converted to the Catholic Church and 
become its brightest ornaments. The real mo- 
tive of every Catholic apostasy, like in your own 
case, is either a carnal, temporal or material con- 
sideration." 

" No matter what my motive may have been, ,, 
said the evangelist, " it does seem that the Church 
has fallen into idolatry.'' 

" Nonsense," exclaimed the priest. " How 
can any sane person accuse the Church of a 
crime she has vigorously opposed from the very 
beginning of her existence ! Was it not because 
the martyrs refused to worship false gods that 
they were subjected to the most excruciating tor- 
ments ? What makes you think that the Church 
fell into idolatry?" 

" Well, she encourages the adoration of saints, 
their relics and images," rejoined the evangelist. 
" The first commandment obliges us to adore 
God alone." 

" What is more natural," asked the priest, 
" than to venerate the lives of distinguished men? 
Their memories are honored by imposing monu- 
ments, national holidays, annual banquets and 
processions; their portraits adorn the walls of 
our public buildings ; their names are given to 
boulevards, parks and cities ; their conduct is ex- 



VENERATION OF SACRED IMAGES 157 

tolled and commended as an example for future 
generations; their words are carefully treasured 
up and reverently quoted like passages from the 
Bible. Popular veneration extends even to the 
inanimate objects associated with these national 
heroes. Their homesteads, furniture and even 
garments are regarded as precious souvenirs. 
Why should we be censured for manifesting sim- 
ilar respect for the saints and martyrs? Surely 
you were taught as a child that we simply ven- 
erate them and their relics, but do not adore 
them/' 

' You call your worship of relics and images 
veneration, but not adoration," said the evangel- 
ist. " The Bible, however, condemns all such 
superstitions. ' Thou shalt not make to thyself 
a graven image or sculpture of any sort/ " 

" How did your delicate conscience ever per- 
mit you to work for the statuary company ? " 
asked the priest. " The text, if literally fol- 
lowed, would put every sculptor, painter and 
photographer out of business. The meaning of 
the passage is evident from the context where it 
says ( Thou shalt not make these things to adore 
and serve them/ That is why we only venerate 
the relics and images of the saints. No Catholic 
adores them." 

u But," insisted the evangelist, " there is no 



158 MEMOIRS OF ZI PRE' 

record of the chosen people venerating images or 
relics, and we should adhere strictly to the Bi- 
ble." 

" What about the ark of the covenant? " asked 
the priest. " Was it not a material image? " 

" Oh, yes," acknowledged the evangelist, " it 
certainly was a material object containing the 
tablets of the divine law." 

" Did the Jewish people adore it?" 

" No, because that would have been idolatry." 

" You admit, then," said the priest, " that the 
chosen people had images or material objects 
which they lawfully venerated, and caused every- 
body else to respect ? " 

" Oh, those were simply material things, not 
images. They were not statues," replied the 
evangelist. 

" The ark of the covenant," said the priest, 
" was an image prefiguring the Tabernacle of 
the New Dispensation which contains not only 
the divine law, but also the Author of that law, 
our Savior, Jesus Christ in the sacrament of His 
love, the Holy Eucharist. But perhaps you pre- 
fer a more specific argument. Do you recall 
Solomon's temple? God commanded that two 
golden cherubim should be made and placed 
above the ark. The people venerated both the 
ark and the cherubim, which were certainly stat- 
ues. Moses was divinely commanded to make 



VENERATION OF SACRED IMAGES 159 

a brazen serpent and expose it to the view of 
the Hebrews so that ' whosoever being struck 
by the fiery serpents shall look upon it, shall 
live/ Do you think those people were guilty of 
idolatry ?" 

" You recall facts that I learned as a boy, but 
never seriously reflected upon. How did this 
antagonism to images originate ? " 

" Iconoclasm or image-breaking," said the 
priest, " was a heresy encouraged by Emperor 
Leo of Constantinople in the eighth century. 
Like other so-called reformers, avarice really 
prompted him to cause the statues of bronze, 
silver and gold that adorned the churches to be 
melted down and converted into coin bearing his 
image. Persuaded by Moslems and by an apos- 
tate Christian that the worship rendered to im- 
ages of our Lord, the Blessed Virgin and the 
Saints was idolatrous, he issued an imperial 
edict to destroy all religious paintings, the in- 
terior walls of the churches throughout the realm 
were to be whitewashed, and might be decorated 
only with pictures of birds, fruits and flowers. 
People said that the churches began to look like 
grocery stores and bird shops. Unable to win 
over to his party the literary men in charge of 
the imperial library, he simply shut them up in 
the building and set it on fire. To take revenge 
on Pope Gregory III, by whom he was excom- 



i6o MEMOIRS OF ZI PRE' 

municated, he ordered a fleet to Italy, but it was 
wrecked in the Adriatic. Shortly afterwards 
the tyrant died, universally regarded as a scourge 
to religion and humanity. 

" He was succeeded by his son, Constantine 
Copronymus, who surpassed his father in fiend- 
ishness. By his command the eyes of Catholics 
were plucked out and their nostrils slit. He had 
a special hatred of religious people. He caused 
their beards to be overlaid with inflammable mat- 
ter and then ignited and the images of the Saints 
to be broken on their heads. His special recrea- 
tion was to preside at executions and feast his 
eyes on streams of fresh warm blood. In those 
days there lived near Nicomedia a holy Abbot 
named Stephen. The emperor summoned him 
to Constantinople with the intention of winning 
him over by argument, for this royal buffoon was 
just conceited enough to imagine himself quite 
an adept in dialectics. ' Oh, stupid man ! ' he 
exclaimed, ' how do you fail to see that we may 
trample under foot the image of Christ without 
offending Christ Himself ? ' Stephen drew near 
the tyrant and showing him a coin that bore his 
image, said to him : * I may therefore treat this 
image in the same manner without failing in re- 
spect.' Then, throwing the piece of money on 
the ground, he tramped on it. Immediately he 
was seized by the courtiers and as they led him 



VENERATION OF SACRED IMAGES 161 

away to execution, he exclaimed : s Strange, in- 
deed, that it should be a crime to insult the image 
of an earthly prince and no harm to trample 
under foot the image of the King of Heaven ! ' " 



CHAPTER XVIII 

VENERATION OF RELICS AND INVOCATION OF 

SAINTS 



"flPSHE veneration of images seems reason- 
1 able enough/' observed the evangelist, 
" because it is rendered not to the material of 
which they are made, but to the persons whom 
they represent. The fuss, however, made over 
relics always appeared to me as rank supersti- 
tion." 

" Superstition/' said the priest, " is a very 
much abused word often employed by people 
who do not grasp its meaning. According to St. 
Thomas, it is a vice opposed to religion by way 
of excess; not because in the worship of God 
it does more than true religion, but because it of- 
fers divine worship to beings other than God, 
or offers worship to God in an improper man- 
ner. It differs from the vice of irreligion, which 
sins by defect. True religion is the golden mean 
between superstition and irreligious 

" There is no mention of relics in the Bible," 
said the evangelist. 

162 



VENERATION OF RELICS 163 

" I am afraid that you have forgotten your Bi- 
ble history/' commented the priest. " Don't you 
remember reading in the IV Book of Kings 
(xxii) that when some Israelites were carry- 
ing a corpse for burial they were frightened by 
thieves and took refuge in a cave where the body 
of the prophet Eliseus had been buried a year 
previous? The corpse instantly came to life 
when it had touched the bones of the Prophet. 
The bodies of the Saints are entitled to our ven- 
eration because, according to St. Paul (I Cor. 
vi) they were once the mystic members of 
Christ, and living temples of the Holy Ghost. 
Having been the instruments of all their virtues 
here on earth, their bodies will share in the eter- 
nal glory of their souls after the general resur- 
rection. We read in the Acts of the Apostles 
that the sick were laid upon couches in the streets 
so that when Peter came along his shadow at 
least might fall upon them and deliver them from 
their infirmities. In chapter xix it is stated that 
there were brought from the body of Paul to 
the sick handkerchiefs and aprons, and the dis- 
eases departed from them, and the wicked spirits 
went out of them. In St. Matthew's gospel it 
is related that a woman troubled with an issue of 
blood for twelve years came behind our Lord 
and touched the hem of His garment. For she 
said within herself: ' If I touch only the hem of 



164 MEMOIRS OF ZI PRE' 

His garment I shall be healed.' That certainly- 
looked like superstition, didn't it ? " 

The evangelist nodded assent. 

" Well, our Lord didn't think so," continued 
the priest. " He turned towards the woman and 
said: 'Be of good heart, daughter; thy faith 
hath made thee whole.' If there were no super- 
stition in the conduct of the persons mentioned, 
if instead of being censured they were praised by 
our Lord for their strong faith, why should we 
Catholics be accused of superstition if we seek 
miraculous cures at Lourdes, Pompeii, Guada- 
loupe and other shrines? Did not our Lord as- 
sure us in the gospel of St. Mark c. xvi. that 
miracles would be a distinctive mark of His 
Church? In venerating the relics of the Saints 
we observe a custom that has prevailed in the 
Church from its very foundation! The cata- 
combs of Rome proclaim the truth of this asser- 
tion. There on the tombs of Christian martyrs 
may be deciphered earnest supplications to those 
departed heroes that they may intercede with 
God for their surviving brethren." 

" Well," remarked the evangelist, " I have al- 
ways regarded this veneration of relics as a sort 
of money-making scheme. Very likely the rel- 
ics themselves are spurious." 

" If in any particular case," said the priest, 
" grafting happens to develop, it is in direct 



VENERATION OF RELICS 165 

violation of the Church laws. The Council of 
Trent insists that ' in the invocation of Saints, 
the veneration of relics, and the sacred use of 
images, every superstition shall be removed and 
all filthy lucre abolished.' Wherever relics are 
venerated with the sanction of the Church, the 
presumption is that they are genuine. Even 
granting that some of them are spurious and the 
people have been venerating them in good faith 
for centuries, it would be very injudicious to dis- 
turb them unless proof of spuriousness is so 
overwhelming as to amount to certainty. Hence 
there is justification for the Church's prudent 
policy in tolerating the veneration of certain 
doubtful relics which could not be brusquely set 
aside without grave scandal and popular disturb- 
ance. Meanwhile, the more solemn features of 
their public cult are quietly and gradually omit- 
ted, and eventually the cult itself will be elim- 
inated." 

" The veneration of the Saints, their images 
and relics is one thing," said the evangelist, 
:< but their invocation is an altogether different 
proposition." 

" Very true," replied the priest. " Their in- 
vocation is based upon their power of interced- 
ing for us. From the objections raised against 
our custom of invoking the Saints, one would 
suppose that we placed the Creator on a level 



166 MEMOIRS OF ZI PRE' - 

with His creatures ; that we considered the Saints 
and martyrs more sympathetic and willing to 
hear us than God Himself, and that they, as well 
as Christ, are mediators between God and man." 

" When outsiders see Catholics praying to stat- 
ues," said the evangelist, " it certainly looks like 
idolatry." 

" Every manual of Catholic doctrine," rejoined 
the priest, " teaches that it is sinful to give the 
same worship to Saints as we give to God; that 
He alone is infinitely perfect and the source of 
all good; consequently that He alone is entitled 
to supreme homage. No outsider ever beheld 
Catholics praying to statues. In childhood we 
were taught that statues or images have no power 
to help us, nor sense to hear us. We simply 
pray before, and not to them, because they en- 
liven our devotion by exciting pious affections 
and desires, and by reminding us of the Saints 
that we may imitate their virtues. Before start- 
ing to evangelize the world the chosen twelve 
formulated a creed commonly known as the 
Apostles' Creed. Every denomination calling it- 
self Christian has retained this creed. Toward 
the end of this Apostolic symbol we find the 
words : ' I believe in the communion of Saints.' 
If those words have any signification they must 
mean that between the members of the Church, 
whether in Heaven or upon earth, there exists 



VENERATION OF RELICS 167 

an interchange of mutual good offices, and that 
one is in some way ready to assist the other. 
We have the strongest Scriptural assurance that 
God receives the prayers of the Saints and an- 
gels, and that they are constantly engaged in sup- 
plication in our behalf. Although Protestants 
may exclude the books of Tobias and Machabees 
from the canon of inspired writings, yet they 
must be regarded at least as historical evidence of 
ancient Jewish belief. In the twelfth chapter of 
Tobias we are told that the angel Raphael said 
to Tobias : ' When thou didst pray with tears 
and didst bury the dead ... I offered thy 
prayer to the Lord/ In the book of Machabees 
it is said that Onias, who had been high-priest, 
appeared to Judas Machabeus, holding up his 
arms and praying for the Jewish people. After 
this there appeared also another man, admirable 
for age and glory. Then Onias said : ' This is 
a lover of his brethren and of the people of Is- 
rael. This is he who prayeth much for the 
people and for all the holy city, Jeremias the 
prophet of God.' We have the same doctrine 
repeated in the New Testament. In St. Luke's 
gospel we read : ' Even so there shall be joy be- 
fore the angels of God upon one sinner that doth 
penance more than over ninety-nine just that 
need not penance.' What is here implied but that 
communion, that social interchange whereby a 



168 MEMOIRS OF ZI PRE 

sinner's repenting here below is matter of joy to 
the angels? And doesn't our Lord assure us 
that the Saints of God shall be like His angels? 
Christ warns us not to scandalize any of His lit- 
tle ones, because their angels always see the face 
of their Father who is in Heaven! What does 
this mean but that the guardian angels have an 
influence with God and will use it to bring down 
judgment on the offender? In the Apocalypse 
we are told that our prayers are like perfumes 
in the hands of the Saints and angels. Prot- 
estants who lay such stress upon the Bible must 
acknowledge this clear testimony regarding the 
communion of mankind and the blessed as the 
subject matter of a doctrine — a doctrine to be 
believed and practiced. But where is it found ? 
Nowhere save in the Catholic Church are pray- 
ers offered for us by the Saints to God, and we, 
therefore, seek their intercession." 

" But," exclaimed the evangelist, " is not the 
invocation of angels expressly condemned by St. 
Paul in his letter to the Colossians : ' let no man 
seduce you willing in humility and religion of 
angels.' " 

" No," replied the priest, " for the Apostle 
here reproves the idolatry of Simon the magician 
and other heretics who regarded angels as the 
creators of all material objects. Feigning humil- 
ity, they addressed God through these angels 



VENERATION OF RELICS 169 

whom they idolatrously worshipped, and set 
aside the mediatorship of Christ. That is what 
the passage evidently means, as may be inferred 
from the commentaries of St. Chrysostom, 
Irenaeus and other fathers." 

" But why bother with the Saints' intercession, 
if God Himself can hear us ? " insisted the evan- 
gelist. " Why not follow the Apostle's admoni- 
tion, ' and go with confidence to the throne of 
grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace 
in seasonable aid ' ? " 

" Your objection proves too much, and there- 
fore proves nothing," retorted the priest. " Why 
pray even directly to God, since He knows our 
wants from all eternity? If it be useless to in- 
voke the Saints because God can hear us without 
their intercession, then why did God say to the 
friends of Job : ' Go to my servant Job and ofifer 
for yourselves a holocaust, and my servant Job 
will pray for you, and his face will I accept ' ? " 

" How," exclaimed the evangelist, " can the in- 
vocation of Saints be reconciled with the Apos- 
tle's assertion : ' There is one God and one medi- 
ator of God, the man Jesus Christ, who gave 
Himself a redemption for all ' ? " 

* Very easily," replied the priest. " Christ 
alone is mediator in the sense of Redeemer. 
The intercessory prayers of the Saints are based 
upon the merits of Christ, who gives them what- 



i7o MEMOIRS OF ZI PRE 

ever value they possess. All our petitions to 
them terminate with the formula : ' Through our 
Lord Jesus Christ/ thus clearly indicating our 
belief in Him as the sole mediator between God 
and man. If intercessory prayer derogated 
from the mediatorship of Christ, St. Paul would 
never have asked the Romans and Ephesians to 
pray for him. But we must not be content with 
venerating and invoking the Saints; we should 
endeavor to imitate their virtues. An artist 
copying some masterpiece, studies carefully each 
line, shadow and feature in order to render his 
copy as near the original as possible. In like 
manner we should study the charity, purity, pa- 
tience, self-denial and other characteristic vir- 
tues of the Saints in order to reproduce them in 
our daily conduct." 

At this juncture Pasqualino returned with the 
altar breads from the convent. 

" Well," exclaimed Zi Pre', rising and proffer- 
ing his hand to the evangelist, " we have cer- 
tainly had enough religious discussion for this 
session. I must visit a sick person before noon." 

" When may I trespass again on your time ? " 
asked the evangelist. 

" No trespass whatever," rejoined the priest. 
" Any morning between nine and eleven, Sun- 
days excepted, you will be welcome." 



CHAPTER XIX 

EXTREME UNCTION 

AFTER the departure of his guest, the 
priest put on his hat and placing his rit- 
ual, stole and oil-stock in his pocket, proceeded 
to Ewing Street. " Anybody sick in this build- 
ing ?" he inquired of a swarthy, low-sized man, 
who stood lounging in front of a dingy grocery 
store, and complacently smoking a pipe. 

The individual addressed critically surveyed 
the priest for a moment, then leisurely removing 
the pipe from his mouth, he demanded : " Who 
told you that there was anyone sick here ? " 

" A person told me this morning after Mass/' 
said the priest, "that a woman, the mother of 
several children, was seriously ill at this num- 
ber/' 

" It's a wonder," muttered the individual with 
the pipe, " that people can't mind their own busi- 
ness. My wife is sick, but when she is low 
enough to have the priest, I will send for him." 

Just then a woman with a shawl on her head 
scurried across the street, and espying the priest, 
beckoned him to follow her. 

171 



172 MEMOIRS OF ZI PRE' 

" Where are you going? " asked the man with 
the pipe. 

" Shut up ! " retorted the woman with a scowl. 

She led the way through a narrow passage be- 
tween the two houses and up a rickety rear stair- 
case to a flat on the second floor. The man fol- 
lowed close on their heels. 

"Pax huic domui et omnibus habitantibus in 
ea. Peace be to this house and all that dwell 
therein/' exclaimed the priest, as he crossed the 
threshold. The air was stifling. The windows 
had probably remained closed since the house 
had been built. The only change of atmosphere 
came when someone opened the door. On a cot 
in a small room off the kitchen lay the invalid — 
a woman past thirty. Her face was flushed 
with fever and her lips parched with thirst. Her 
breathing came in short, fitful jerks and she was 
evidently in great agony. 

" Wouldn't you like to go to the hospital ? " 
asked the priest. 

" That's what I told her," interjected a young 
woman with a baby in her arms. 

" You would have everything neat and clean," 
continued the priest, " and a Sister to wait upon 
you. It is impossible for you to obtain proper 
medical attention here." 

The poor woman shook her head negatively 
and gasped : " Oh, no, I prefer to die at home 



EXTREME UNCTION 173 

surrounded by my children. Nobody would un- 
derstand me in the hospital/' 

" Oh, you don't want to die for a while yet," 
said the priest in an effort to encourage her. 
" While there is life, there is hope. If it be 
God's holy will you should earnestly desire to 
live a little longer, at least for the sake of your 
children until they grow up and are able to take 
care of themselves. What kind of Christian 
training would they ever get without their mother 
to look after them ? Why, this husband of yours 
didn't want to let me come here this morning. 
He must have mistaken me for the undertaker. 
The priest never visits his parishioners to accel- 
erate their death, but rather to hasten their re- 
covery. ' Is there any man sick among you ? ' 
says St. James. - Let them call in the priests of 
the Church, and let them pray over him, anoint- 
ing him with oil in the name of the Lord, and the 
prayer of faith shall save the sick man : and the 
Lord shall raise him up: and if he be in sins, 
they shall be forgiven him/ In St. Mark's gos- 
pel (vi) we read that the Apostles ' anointed 
with oil many that were sick and healed them/ 
Of course, this anointing of the sick by the Dis- 
ciples before our Savior's death, is not to be con- 
sidered as a sacrament, since it was evidently ad- 
ministered only for the health of the body. It 
may, however, be regarded in some respect as a 



174 MEMOIRS OF ZI PRE 9 

figure of the sacramental unction which was aft- 
erwards to be instituted." 

While the priest was engaged in explaining 
the nature and effects of Extreme Unction, the 
husband of the sick woman began rummaging 
in an old trunk at the foot of the bed. He finally 
resurrected a crucifix and a couple of candles 
which he placed upon the table. Two empty 
pop bottles served as candlesticks. " Extreme 
Unction/' said Zi Pre', " is a sacrament which 
through the anointing and prayer of the priest 
gives health and strength to the soul, and even 
sometimes to the body when we are in danger of 
death from sickness. Besides the increase of 
sanctifying grace — an effect common to all sac- 
raments of the living, Extreme Unction remits 
venial sin. The words of St. James refer chiefly 
to venial sins, because mortal sins are remitted 
through baptism and penance sacraments of the 
dead. Since a sacrament produces that which it 
signifies, it is in the very significance of each 
sacrament that we must look for its principal ef- 
fect. Extreme Unction is employed under the 
form of a remedy, just as Baptism is used under 
the form of an ablution. A remedy being 
intended to cure, Extreme Unction is chiefly 
destined to cure the infirmities produced in 
the soul by sin. Baptism, therefore, is a spir- 



EXTREME UNCTION 175 

itual birth, Penance a resurrection, and Extreme 
Unction a cure or remedy. As a corporal rem- 
edy supposes the life of the body, so a spiritual 
remedy supposes the life of the soul in him to 
whom it is administered. Hence Extreme Unc- 
tion is not given to remove defects depriving the 
soul of spiritual life, viz. : original and mortal 
sin, but to remove those defects rendering the 
soul sick and depriving it of that perfect vigor 
which it needs in order to perform the acts of 
spiritual life. Extreme Unction, however, can 
also remit mortal sin when it is impossible for 
one otherwise rightly disposed to receive the sac- 
rament of Penance. A person after having re- 
ceived absolution might fall into mortal sin which 
either he does not know or forgets, and conse- 
quently will not confess. In that case, if he 
receives Extreme Unction with sorrow, and 
places no obstacle to the grace of this sacrament, 
he will obtain the remission of his faults. 

"Another effect of this sacrament is the re- 
moval of the remnants of sin, after the guilt has 
been remitted, as e. g., temporal punishment, 
weakness of the will, depraved inclination or 
strong propensity to sin. All these effects are 
signified by the sacramental matter — olive oil. 
To oil is ascribed a certain healing power. The 
Good Samaritan poured oil into the wounds of 



176 MEMOIRS OF ZI PRE' 

the man who had fallen among robbers. A fur- 
ther effect is fortitude in sufferings as signi- 
fied especially by the words of the Apostle: 
' The Lord shall raise him up/ Finally, ' the 
prayer of faith shall heal the sick man,' i. e., 
restore him to health, provided it be conducive 
to his spiritual welfare. 

" Now," he said to the sick woman, " after I 
have heard your confession, I will anoint your 
eyes, ears, nostrils, mouth, hands and feet, in a 
word, all the senses, the organs of our actions, 
and unfortunately, too often the instruments of 
our sins. While I am thus engaged, your rela- 
tives and friends witnessing this solemn cere- 
mony, should unite their prayers with those of- 
fered by the Church in your behalf. They 
should do for you what they would like to have 
done for themselves were they in a similar cir- 
cumstance. Everything connected with the ad- 
ministration of this sacrament reveals man's dig- 
nity. Under eloquent symbols beams forth the 
high destiny awaiting us if we die in a Christian 
manner. What, in fact, are all these prayers, 
ceremonies, and unctions? Are they not the 
authorized profession of a truth which is the 
principle of virtue and the safeguard of society, 
viz.: that all does not perish with the body? 
What purpose would they serve if man were 
only an animal or a machine and did not antici- 



EXTREME UNCTION 177 

pate a better life beyond the tomb? No, he is 
something greater, and by the administration of 
Extreme Unction the Church reminds him that 
he is destined to flourish in immortality/' 



CHAPTER XX 

INDULGENCES 

"TTTHAT has become of your evangelical 
yy friend? " asked Zi Pre' one Thursday 
of Pasqualino. " It is fully two months since 
he was here. I must have frightened him pretty 
badly the last time he called." 

" Oh, he intends to return/' replied Pasqual- 
ino. " I met him the other day on Blue Island 
Avenue, and he said that he had been ailing for 
quite a while." 

That same morning he rang the bell about nine 
o'clock, and was ushered into the priest's study. 
He looked pale and worn. " I have been under 
a doctor's care for the last six weeks," he said in 
explanation of his protracted absence. 

" I have been making a special memento for 
you every day in my prayers," said the priest, 
" but I almost despaired of seeing you again. 
What can I do for you this morning ? " 

" Kindly explain the doctrine of indulgences," 
ventured the evangelist. 

" Few Catholic doctrines," replied the priest, 

178 



INDULGENCES 179 

" have been more savagely attacked, misrepre- 
sented and misunderstood than the one regard- 
ing indulgences. The Montanists of the third 
century and the Novations in the fifth denied to 
the Church the power of forgiving certain griev- 
ous crimes committed after the reception of bap- 
tism. According to them the temporal punish- 
ment due such faults could not be remitted by an 
indulgence. In the thirteenth the Waldenses, 
as well as the followers of Wickleff and Huss 
impugned the Church's power of granting indul- 
gences. Martin Luther in the fifteenth century 
was their greatest foe. He seemed at first 
wholly absorbed in assailing abuses apparently 
introduced by John Tetzel rather than the doc- 
trine itself. Luther's heresy was eagerly em- 
braced by Zwinglius, Calvin and the other so- 
called reformers. A few bigoted historians, 
pandering to the tastes of their prejudiced read- 
ers, have not scrupled to assert indulgences to 
be simply license to commit sin, and that such 
permission was offered for sale in the market 
places of Germany ! " 

' Well, what is an indulgence ? " asked the 
evangelist. 

" It is a remission," replied the priest, " in 
whole or in part of the temporal punishment due 
to actual sins after the guilt and eternal punish- 
ment have been forgiven. Hence the common 



180 MEMOIRS OF ZI PRE 9 

distinction between a plenary and partial indul- 
gence. The guilt and eternal punishment of sin 
are remitted, not by an indulgence but by 
the sacrament of penance. An indulgence does 
not remove the temporal punishment of original 
sin, as e. g., sickness and death, a strong inclina- 
tion to evil. Neither does it free one from the 
temporal punishments involved in the very fact 
of repentance. It cannot liberate the sinner 
from the duty of restoring ill-gotten goods, re- 
tracting calumnies, or of taking the necessary 
means to avoid future falls. Neither will it free 
him from loss of health, honor and reputation 
which are often the temporal punishments accom- 
panying the transgression of the commandments. 
" Theologians distinguish between the guilt of 
sin and its punishment. The guilt or offense is 
the injury done to God; the punishment is the 
chastisement which He has a right to inflict. 
Being infinitely just, He can no more allow a sin 
to pass unpunished than a good work to go un- 
rewarded. The punishment is either eternal or 
temporal according as the sin may be mortal or 
venial. The guilt of sin and its eternal punish- 
ment are remitted chiefly through Baptism and 
Penance. No sin whatever can be forgiven by 
an indulgence. When the phrase, ' remission of 
sin/ occurs in the grant of an indulgence, it sim- 
ply denotes the remission of punishment, not of 



INDULGENCES 181 

guilt, just the same as when Scripture says that 
* Christ bore our sins in His body on the cross/ 
the evident meaning is that He bore the punish- 
ment, not the guilt of our sins." 

" What proof is there that our Lord ever gave 
the Church the power to grant indulgences ? " 
asked the evangelist. 

" Ample proof," replied the priest. " From 
the words which He addressed to St. Peter and 
the other Apostles, ' I give thee the keys of the 
Kingdom of Heaven. Whatsoever thou shalt 
bind on earth shall be bound in Heaven; whatso- 
ever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in 
Heaven.' By those words our Lord empowered 
the Church to deliver her children from what- 
ever obstacle might impede their entrance into 
Heaven. The Church can certainly remove the 
greater obstacle, viz. : the guilt of mortal sin and 
its eternal chastisement through the tribunal of 
penance, provided the penitents be properly dis- 
posed. Therefore, she enjoys the faculty of re- 
moving the lesser obstacle, viz. : the temporal 
punishment due to their sins. Luther himself 
before his excommunication declared : ' If any- 
one deny the truth of the Pope's indulgence, let 
him be anathema.' " 

" Still," remarked the evangelist, " he was 
most emphatic against its abuse." 

' The best of things may be abused," replied 



iS2 MEMOIRS OF ZI PRE' 

the priest. " Leo X desired to complete St. 
Peter's basilica. To this end he proclaimed an 
indulgence to all who would make some volun- 
tary contribution to the building fund and fulfill 
the other conditions, viz. : ' sincere repentance 
and confession of sins.' To prevent any traffic 
or sale of indulgences, ' the hand that delivered 
the indulgence was forbidden under the severest 
penalties to receive the money/ Now where 
was the abuse? If Moses rightfully appealed to 
the Israelites for offerings to adorn the taber- 
nacle, why should not the Pope be equally justi- 
fied in soliciting alms for a similar purpose? If 
our sins, according to Holy Scripture, can be re- 
deemed by alms to the poor, why not by offerings 
given in the cause of religion? According to 
Luther, Tetzel exaggerated the value of indul- 
gences. But that he offered them for sale was 
never even hinted at until after his death. The 
Apostolic nuncio sharply rebuked him for his in- 
discreet zeal, and the poor man took the repri- 
mand so much to heart that he retired to a mon- 
astery where he soon afterwards died without 
his case ever receiving a judicial investigation.'' 
" Well, I never cared particularly for indul- 
gences," observed the evangelist, " because they 
savor too much of a political pull. They always 
seemed like giving a bribe to God for a privilege 
to which we are not entitled. Here in America 



INDULGENCES 183 

we believe in equal rights to all and special priv- 
ileges to none." 

" What is a privilege? " asked the priest. " It 
is a peculiar favor granted to one individual and 
not enjoyed by the rest of the community. Re- 
bates granted by a railroad to one manufacturer 
and not to his rivals — that is privilege. Now 
through baptism we all become members of God's 
Church, and we thereby receive equal rights to 
her graces and blessings. All have an equal 
chance to draw abundantly from her spiritual 
treasury, provided they fulfill the conditions. In 
the Catholic Church there is no class legislation, 
no discriminating law benefiting one set of mem- 
bers and injuring another group. Hence to as- 
sert that an. indulgence savors of a political pull, 
is to say what is untrue. If our spiritual sloth, 
obstinacy and pride prevent us from taking ad- 
vantage of indulgences in order to lessen our so- 
journ in Purgatory, then we have only ourselves 
to blame. Christianity itself is one great indul- 
gence granted to the guilty human race in con- 
sideration of the merits of our Lord who was 
voluntarily immolated on Calvary for the sins 
of men. Almighty God could demand of us all 
that we owe Him even to the last farthing. But 
His infinite mercy permits the innocent to pay 
for the guilty and that the superabundant merits 
of His only begotten Son and His saints should 



184 MEMOIRS OF ZI PRE 

turn to our advantage and diminish our obliga- 
tions/' 

M I have heard ministers denounce an indul- 
gence as the greatest incentive to crime/' said 
the evangelist. 

"Those poor deluded creatures/' replied the 
priest, " did not know what they were talking 
about. Why, to gain an indulgence we must be 
in the state of grace, i. e., free from all mortal 
sin. Hence it is the greatest inducement to vir- 
tue. Not only must we have the intention of 
gaining the indulgence, but we must fulfill accu- 
rately the usual conditions of sacramental con- 
fession, Holy Communion, and the giving of an 
alms either to the poor or for some praiseworthy 
purpose. Practical Catholics usually renew 
every morning the desire of gaining all the in- 
dulgences attached to the various acts of piety 
which they may perform during the day. The 
Our Father, Hail Mary, the acts of faith, hope, 
love and contrition, the Angelus and Rosary, in 
fact nearly every prayer or pious ejaculation that 
we may utter, has a specific indulgence. We 
should therefore strive to gain as many of them 
as we can so that we may share in the super- 
abundant merits of our Lord and His saints. 
Thus we will shorten the punishment of our sins 
to be expiated either here or in Purgatory and 
which could delay our entrance into the eternal 
kingdom." 



CHAPTER XXI 

PURGATORY 

44 1 F ~^\C> you really believe in the existence of 

1 3 Purgatory ? " asked the evangelist. 

" As firmly as I believe in the existence of 
Heaven or hell, or of Divine Justice," replied 
the priest. " God will render to everyone ac- 
cording to his works, and nothing defiled can 
enter His sacred presence. Would it be right to 
admit immediately into the heavenly kingdom, 
along with saints, the sinner who has spent his 
life in wickedness just because he repented at 
the moment of death ?" 

" What is your definition of Purgatory ? " de- 
manded the evangelist. 

" It is a state/' rejoined the priest, " in which 
the souls of the just who die without having suf- 
ficiently satisfied Divine Justice for their sins are 
obliged to expiate them before entering Heaven/' 

" Excuse me/' said the evangelist, " but that 
differs entirely from the definition usually given. 
I have heard Catholic preachers call it a prison 
or furnace. In fact, I have seen pictures of the 

185 



186 MEMOIRS OF ZI PRE* 

suffering souls surrounded by flames. Why 
don't you call it a prison or a furnace? " 

" The Church," said the priest, " has never de- 
cided whether Purgatory is a particular place in 
which the souls of the faithful are confined, or 
in what peculiar manner they are purified, 
whether by fire or any other way, or what the 
rigor or extent of their sufferings may be. Cath- 
olic theologians are therefore free to discuss 
these questions. The only points defined by the 
Council of Trent are the following four: (i) 
After the remission of mortal sin and its eternal 
punishment in the Sacrament of Penance, there 
still remains a temporal punishment to expiate. 
(2) When that expiation is not made during the 
present life it must be endured hereafter in Pur- 
gatory. (3) The prayers and good works of the 
living can be useful to the dead. (4) The Sac- 
rifice of the Mass is propitiatory, and therefore 
has the effect of satisfying Divine Justice for the 
temporal punishment due to sins of both living 
and dead." 

" And you claim that this doctrine is based 
upon the Bible?" asked the evangelist. 

" Yes," replied the priest, " and before citing 
Scriptural proofs, try once for all to understand 
clearly that for us Catholics the unwritten word 
of God proposed for our belief by the Church 
through tradition, has exactly the same weight 



PURGATORY 187 

and authority as the written word of God con- 
tained in the Bible and which she commands us 
to believe. ' Faith cometh by hearing,' says St. 
Paul. ' Stand fast and hold the traditions which 
you have learnt, whether by word or by our epis- 
tle/ (Thess. ii.) Tradition, therefore, didn't 
lose its authority because a part of it was com- 
mitted to writing, any more than the natural law 
became void when the Decalogue was written 
on two tablets of stone. There are any number 
of texts in the Old Testament insinuating the ex- 
istence of an intermediate state, as e. g., David, 
who makes those beyond the tomb to exclaim: 
' We have passed through fire and water, and 
Thou hast brought us out into a refreshment.' 
* Lay out thy bread and thy wine upon the 
burial of a just man,' which means : feed the 
poor on the tomb of the just in order that 
they may pray for him. (Tobias iv.) The 
custom of distributing bread among the poor 
on the occasion of a funeral still prevails 
in many Catholic countries even to this day, 
notably in Belgium. In Ecclesiasticus (38) 
it is said : ' When the dead is at rest, let his re- 
membrance rest, and comfort him in the depart- 
ing of his spirit.' How could the dead be com- 
forted unless by the help which the living give 
through their prayers? In Mach. II xii, we read 
that Judas Machabeus 'sent twelve thousand 



188 MEMOIRS OF ZI PRE' 

drachms of silver to Jerusalem for sacrifice to 
be offered for the sins of the dead, thinking well 
and religiously concerning the resurrection. . . . 
It is therefore a holy and wholesome thought to 
pray for the dead, that they may be loosed from 
their sins.' This passage proved too strong for 
the so-called reformers, who simply rejected both 
books of Machabees as apocryphal, although they 
have precisely the same authority as any other 
part of the Bible. 

" It does more harm than good to adduce an 
array of dubious texts in confirmation of a doc- 
trine clearly established from other undoubted 
sources. Whatever our separated brethren may 
think of the canonicity of Machabees, they 
must admit that they indicate the common prac- 
tice of praying and offering sacrifice for the de- 
parted—a custom which prevailed among the 
Jews up to the advent of our Lord. If belief in 
Purgatory were an invention of Satan, as Calvin 
claimed, our Lord would have certainly warned 
the Jews against it. 

" In Matt, xii our Lord says : ' Whoso- 
ever shall speak a word against the Son of Man 
it shall be forgiven him; but he that shall speak 
against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven 
him, neither in this world nor in the world to 
come/ 

" According to St. Augustine these words im- 



PURGATORY 189 

ply the possibility of the remission of sin in the 
life to come; and consequently the existence of 
a middle state. For, no man in his senses would 
say ' I shall not marry in this world nor in the 
world to come/ because the latter is absurd and 
impossible." 

" In not a single text quoted did I hear the 
word Purgatory mentioned," said the evangel- 
ist. " If the Bible doesn't contain the word, 
much less does it convey the meaning which the 
word implies." 

" It is not a question of the name," said the 
priest, "but of the truth. To express that 
truth we can use any term we please. Call it a 
place of expiation, an intermediate state, Purga- 
tory or anything you like, if you admit the truth 
of its existence, we cannot have any argument 
about its name." 

" Very true," acknowledged the evangelist, " if 
we admit a fact we cannot dispute about mere 
words. But just the same, Catholics believe a 
thing not contained in the Bible, or at least be- 
lieve a truth expressed in words which the Bi- 
ble does not contain." 

" Catholics," retorted the priest, " believe in a 
state of purgation beyond the grave. If to ex- 
press the truth we employ words not contained 
in the Bible, they express at least the truth itself 
which the Bible contains. Do you really wish to 



190 MEMOIRS OF ZI PRE' 

assert that all biblical truths must be conveyed 
by words literally contained in the' Bible?" 

" Certainly," rejoined the evangelist, " other- 
wise what you assert is founded not on the word 
of God, but on the word of man." 

" You believe in the most Holy Trinity, Bap- 
tism, the Apostles' Creed, and the sanctification 
of Sunday, don't you ? " asked the priest. 

" Without the slightest difficulty," rejoined 
the evangelist. " Of course, they are not liter- 
ally expressed in the Bible, but only as to their 
sense. If we adhere to the mere letter, accord- 
ing to the Apostle, we have death, while the 
spiritual sense gives life. The words Trinity, 
Baptism, Creed and Sunday are used to desig- 
nate definite, clear things which are conformable 
to reason, but the word Purgatory seems to be 
contrary to common sense." 

" How does it offend common sense ? " asked 
the priest. 

" Well, it seems ridiculous to believe that a 
sin can only be half pardoned," rejoined the 
evangelist. " If God forgives a man his sins, he 
enters the state of grace and that is the end of 
it. God's work cannot be imperfect." 

" True," granted the priest, " but in the work 
of man there is usually a great amount of im- 
perfection. If the greatest sinner before enter- 



PURGATORY igi 

ing eternity could make an act of perfect sor- 
row, there is no reason why he should not be ad- 
mitted immediately into Heaven. But nothing 
defiled can enter Heaven. Who dies so immac- 
ulately pure as to deserve immediate admission 
into God's presence? An intermediate state of 
purification called Purgatory is therefore most 
conformable to the dictates of common sense." 

" Oh, the idea of Purgatory doesn't seem un- 
reasonable," vowed the evangelist, " only tell us 
where it is — what kind of pains does a soul suf- 
fer there? I have heard and read such extrav- 
agant notions on that score." 

" I have already told you," said the priest, 
" that the Church has never defined the loca- 
tion of Purgatory, nor the exact nature of its 
tortures. She has simply declared the existence 
of such a state. You certainly believe in 
Heaven and hell, although nobody has presumed 
as yet to indicate their location. Preachers may 
employ figures of speech, and compare Purga- 
tory to a lake of fire, a pit, prison, etc. They 
may use various forms of sickness to denote its 
pains. The early Fathers did likewise and based 
their comparisons upon scriptural texts." 

" Is it not an article of faith that the souls in 
Purgatory suffer the pains of fire ? " exclaimed 
the evangelist. 



192 MEMOIRS OF ZI PRE 

" The general sentiment of theologians is that 
they do, and this opinion is based upon the words 
of St. Paul (I Cor. iii) ' the fire shall try every 
man's work, of what sort it is ... he himself 
shall be saved, yet so as by fire.' But it has never 
been defined by the Church." 

" Why, then/' insisted the evangelist, " does 
Catholic liturgy designate it as tartarus, hell, the 
mouth of the lion, eternal death, etc. ? " 

" If you consult the works of Pagan and 
Christian authors," said the priest, " you will 
find that those words signify a place of torment 
and privation. When the Church implores 
God's mercy in favor of departed souls lest 
' they fall into obscurity, lest tartarus absorb 
them, or that they may be rescued from the jaws 
of the lion/ she supplicates Him to liberate 
them from the pains of Purgatory." 

" That is all very plausible," said the evangel- 
ist, " but when at the absolution on the occasion 
of a funeral you pray : ' Free, O Lord, those 
souls from eternal death/ etc., it sounds as if 
you wanted God to liberate the reprobates from 
hell, out of which there is no redemption." 

" In no part of the burial service will you find 
the words : ' Free, O God, those souls from eter- 
nal death/ But you will discover the words : 
' Deliver ME, O Lord, from eternal death/ etc. 
That is a petition, not for the dead, but for the 



PURGATORY 193 

living. Formerly those offertories and anthems 
were recited as prayers for the dying when the 
soul was in its last agony just before entering 
eternity/' 



CHAPTER XXII 

IMMACULATE CONCEPTION 

** A FEW nights ago in the Daily News/' 

Ji\, sa id the evangelist, " I ran across an 
article of yours protesting against Marion Har- 
land's use of the term ' peasant wife ' to desig- 
nate the Blessed Virgin. The distinctions 
drawn by you seemed rather far-fetched." 

" Oh, they could not seem so to any lover of 
historical accuracy/' rejoined the priest. " The 
parents of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Joachim 
and Anne, being descendants of a royal and 
sacerdotal race, belonged to the highest nobility 
of Israel." 

" In this age of democracy the title of noble 
doesn't count for much," commented the evan- 
gelist. 

" It certainly does not," acknowledged the 
priest. " Of course, personal virtue rather than 
distinction of birth really ennobles the individual. 
But just the same the Son of God, though born in 
poverty, did not disdain the human advantages 
of nobility. In fact, it was necessary for Him 

194 



IMMACULATE CONCEPTION 195 

in order that the Messianic prophecies might be 
fulfilled. To prove His claim as the promised 
Redeemer He should, according to the patriarchs 
and prophets, descend from the royal house of 
David. He should likewise be of sacerdotal or- 
igin, for of Him it was said : ' Thou art a priest 
forever according to the order of Melchisedech/ 
The blood of kings and of patriarchs acquired a 
special dignity in the person of the Blessed Vir- 
gin, for from her the Son of God was to assume 
human nature. If for no other reason than for 
the sake of historical truth, the term ' peasant 
wife ' is most inappropriate when applied to the 
Blessed Virgin Mary, for she was not of peas- 
ant, but of noble origin." 

" What do you understand by her immaculate 
conception ? " asked the evangelist. 

" For us Catholics/' replied the priest, " it is 
an article of faith that in the first instant of her 
conception, by a singular privilege and grace of 
God in virtue of the merits of Jesus Christ, she 
was preserved exempt from all stain of original 
sin." 

' That practically puts her on an equality with 
the Son of God," said the evangelist. 

" Nothing of the kind," rejoined the priest. 
" There is an essential difference between the 
immaculate conception of the Incarnate Word, 
and that of His Blessed Mother. Our Savior 



ig6 MEMOIRS OF ZI PRE 

was exempt not only from all sin, but free, more- 
over, from all debt or liability to contract it. 
Since the Blessed Virgin originated in the same 
manner as other mortals, she was the descendant 
of a fallen race. Unlike our Savior, she incurred 
the debt or liability to contract original sin. In 
the ordinary course of events she would have 
been conceived in sin the same as the rest of us, 
were it not for the intervention of God's mercy. 
Divine mercy intervened. On account of Him 
whose mother she was destined to become, and 
by virtue of His merits foreseen, she was pre- 
served from the original taint. For this reason 
Pius IX declared her Immaculate Conception to 
be, not an inherent right, but ' a singular grace 
and privilege of God/ " 

" St. Paul declares that * all men have sinned 
in Adam,' " said the evangelist. 

" By that declaration,*' retorted the priest, 
'• the Apostle simply wished to emphasize the 
need which all men have of redemption by 

Christ." 

" But doesn't her privilege derogate from the 
universal redemption ? " insisted the evangelist. 

" Not in the slightest degree," replied the 
priest. * She needed a Redeemer as well as we. 
She was therefore redeemed, but in a manner 
more sublime than the rest of men. Redemp- 
tion may be imparted in a two-fold way: the 



IMMACULATE CONCEPTION 197 

one, by which the fallen are lifted up, and thus 
we were redeemed at the Baptismal font: the 
other, by which one is prevented from falling, 
and thus the Blessed Virgin was saved in the 
first instant of her conception. This extraor- 
dinary privilege is what we should naturally ex- 
pect when we consider the exalted part she took 
in the mystery of the Incarnation. Theologians 
distinguish between active or generative concep- 
tion by the parents causing the body to be or- 
ganized and prepared for receiving a rational 
soul, and passive conception. The soul is not 
generated by the parents, but created and infused 
by God into the body. Passive conception is 
the moment of the soul's infusion, viz. : when it 
first animates the body. In this latter sense alone 
do we assert the Blessed Virgin's exemption 
from original sin in the first instant of her con- 
ception. Why? Because only when the soul 
first animates the body can there be question of 
sinful stain or preservation therefrom. The 
soul and not the body is primarily capable of 
receiving the gift of grace or the stain of original 
sin." 

" That is rather a subtle distinction you make 
between active and passive conception," observed 
the evangelist. " I really don't see any reason 
for it." 

" It is a distinction," replied the priest, " with- 



198 MEMOIRS OF ZI PRE' 

out which it would be impossible to explain 
many passages of the Fathers and ancient writ- 
ers who apparently deny the Immaculate Con- 
ception. When St. Augustine, for example, de- 
clares the flesh of Mary to be ' flesh of sin/ he 
alludes solely to her active conception, which 
implies a certain parental concupiscence. It 
may therefore be called sin in the same sense 
that concupiscence, though natural and innocent, 
is designated as sin by the Apostle." 

" What proof have you from the Bible in sup- 
port of the Immaculate Conception ? " asked the 
evangelist. 

" No direct Biblical proof whatever," ac- 
knowledged the priest. " It is, however, a doc- 
trine strongly insinuated in Holy Scripture, 
and at the same time re-echoes the universal 
belief of the faithful from the earliest days of 
Christianity." 

" Well," mused the evangelist, " I have read 
the Bible from Genesis to Apocalypse, and I 
do not recall a single text even remotely indi- 
cating the doctrine of the Immaculate Concep- 
tion." 

" Oh, my good man," said the priest, " you 
must have read it with your eyes closed. The 
very first Scriptural promise of Redemption in- 
timates also the Mother of the Redeemer, God 
said to the serpent ..." I will put enmities be- 



IMMACULATE CONCEPTION 199 

tween thee and the woman, and thy seed and her 
seed: she shall crush thy head/ The serpent is 
a synonym for the devil. He is frequently des- 
ignated by the name of serpent in the Bible. 
All sinners are seed of the devil. They are his 
children, not by carnal, but by spiritual genera- 
tion. ' You are of your father, the devil/ said 
our Lord to the incredulous Jews. The seed of 
the woman can refer to none else but Jesus 
Christ." 

" It might refer to all the just," suggested the 
evangelist. 

" No," rejoined the priest, " because it is pre- 
dicted that the seed of the woman shall crush 
the serpent's head, i. e., shall repress his power 
and rescue man from his grasp. This predic- 
tion was verified in Christ, who came to over- 
throw the dominion of Satan and redeem man- 
kind. Accordingly, St. Paul (Gal. iv) declared 
that ' God sent His Son made of woman/ viz. : 
the Blessed Virgin. She is the woman or 
mother of the seed mentioned. If she be not, 
then to which woman is reference made? Cer- 
tainly not to Eve. Nowhere is Christ mentioned 
as the seed of Eve. He is universally indicated 
as the son of the Virgin Mary. ' Behold a vir- 
gin shall conceive and bring forth a son/ By 
yielding to the tempter Eve became his partisan. 
The fact of her restoration to the state of grace 



200 MEMOIRS OF ZI PRE 

does not warrant the declaration of a special 
enmity between her and the serpent. Adam also 
repented of his fault. Why was it not rather 
asserted: I will put enmities between thee and 
man? 

" Now, enmity implies horror and detestation. 
Between enemies there exists no friendly inter- 
course. Our friendship with the devil is en- 
gendered through sin. Complete enmity be- 
tween us and him would imply a complete ab- 
sence of sin on our part. The enmity which the 
woman and her seed have in common against 
the serpent refers principally to original sin. 
Only original sin existed when that enmity was 
predicted. Moreover, it was chiefly on account 
of original sin that Christ would come to crush 
the serpent's head and redeem the whole human 
race corrupted through its influence." 

" Well, I don't see/' said the evangelist, 
"what that has to do with the doctrine you are 
trying to prove." 

"Just a little patience, my dear friend/' re- 
joined the priest. " Having made this prelim- 
inary analysis of the text, we can deduce the 
following argument: It is declared in Genesis 
that Mary and her offspring, Jesus Christ, en- 
tertain one and the same enmity against the ser- 
pent on account of original sin. Since the en- 
mity of our Savior in this respect is absolute and 



IMMACULATE CONCEPTION 201 

perpetual, the same must be asserted of the en- 
mity entertained by His Blessed Mother. Her 
enmity, however, would not be absolute and per- 
petual, had she been tainted by original sin in 
the first instant of her conception." 

" You seem to ignore the philological discus- 
sion about the pronoun in the text," said the 
evangelist. " Are you not aware that while your 
Catholic Bible has translated the text, € She shall 
crush thy head/ the Hebrew rendition is : i It 
shall crush thy head ' ? " 

" That does not invalidate the argument," re- 
joined the priest. " It matters little whether 
you translate the pronoun ' he/ ' she ' or ' it/ If 
we read it as in the Latin Vulgate, ' She shall 
crush thy head/ then it means that the woman, 
in virtue of her seed Jesus Christ, shall conquer 
the serpent. If we accept the Hebrew version 
— ' he ' or ' it/ then it signifies that Christ and 
the woman will completely triumph over the 
demon. In either case their mutual enmity 
against him is not mitigated." 

;( Some of your own theologians," remarked 
the evangelist, " consider the argument drawn 
from reason in support of this doctrine as rather 
doubtful and dangerous." 

" What one is that ? " asked the priest. 

" Why, the argument developed by Duns Sco- 
tus, viz.: Decirit, potuit, ergo fecit. It was be- 



202 MEMOIRS OF ZI PRE' 

coming that the Mother of the Redeemer should 
be immaculate from the first moment of her con- 
ception ; God could give her this privilege, there- 
fore He gave it to her." 

" Yes/' admitted the priest, " when presented 
in that crude way, it doesn't appear very strong. 
It doesn't, however, seem credible that while 
Eve, the mother of the fratricide, Cain, was cre- 
ated immaculate, the mother of Jesus Christ 
would be conceived in sin. Whence was de- 
rived the adorable blood of our Savior shed on 
Calvary? It came from the blood of His Vir- 
gin Mother. Can we for a moment suppose 
that the price of our redemption originally 
sprang from a source contaminated by the foul 
disease of sin? No, we cannot, for that would 
have been unworthy of God, who is infinite pur- 
ity. Yet such would have been the case, had 
the Blessed Virgin been stained by original sin 
in the first instant of her conception." 

" If the faithful from the earliest days of 
Christianity firmly believed in the Immaculate 
Conception/' said the evangelist, " isn't it strange 
that the Fathers never expressly mentioned this 
fact, or commemorated it by a solemn feast as 
at the present day ? " 

" I do not find it strange," replied the priest. 
" The feast of the Holy Trinity was not intro- 
duced into the Church until the fifth century. 



IMMACULATE CONCEPTION 203 

Yet who would dare accuse the primitive Chris- 
tians of disbelief in the Triune God? As well 
might Chicagoans be accused of disbelieving the 
discovery of America by Columbus until the 
year A. D. 1893, the time of the Columbian Ex- 
position. For they never solemnly commemo- 
rated the event until then. As the doctrine of 
original sin was not expressly declared in the 
Church's infancy, we cannot expect the Fathers 
to supply us with special tracts on the Immacu- 
late Conception. It is, however, implicitly as- 
serted by them. They frequently urge a com- 
parison between the Blessed Virgin and Eve, 
just as they contrast Jesus Christ with Adam. 
As they regard our Lord as the second Adam, 
so they look upon His Blessed Mother as the 
second Eve. Eve surrendered to the angel of 
darkness: Mary yielded to the angel of light. 
Eve, through her disobedience, was the cause of 
our death ; Mary, through her obedience, was in- 
strumental in securing our spiritual life. Ac- 
cording to St. Irenaeus, * the knot of Eve's diso- 
bedience was loosed by Mary's obedience.' If 
her obedience untied the knot of original disobe- 
dience, we must infer that she was never bound 
by it even in the first moment of her conception. 
" Her immunity from all kind of sin is at least 
strongly implied if not expressly declared in 
every Oriental liturgy of schismatic, as well as 



204 MEMOIRS OF ZI PRE' 

orthodox Christians. Even the Koran, that 
Mohommedan plagiarism of the Bible, asserts 
that Mary, the Mother of Jesus, was always pro- 
tected from all attacks of Satan (Chap. iii). 
Devotion to her should be a characteristic of 
every Christian. She was conceived without 
sin; we, on the contrary, were born with its 
stain on our souls. Although regenerated in 
Baptism, we have repeatedly fallen. You ought 
to have fervent recourse to her who is i the ref- 
uge of sinners/ and frequently invoke her inter- 
cession through that familiar prayer which you 
certainly must have learned in your childhood: 
' Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sin- 
ners, now and at the hour of our death. 
Amen.' " 



CHAPTER XXIII 

THE ROSARY 

*<TTT has always seemed to me," said the 
JL evangelist to Zi Pre' one Thursday 
morning, " that the multiplicity of Catholic de- 
votions belittle man and degrade him. They 
make him superstitious, morbid and melan- 
choly." 

" All the exercises of Catholic piety/' re- 
sponded the priest, " can be reduced to prayer, 
fasting and almsgiving. Doesn't the Bible rec- 
ommend these as most useful and salutary ? " 

" Oh, I had chiefly in mind those women who 
spend most of their time in church," said the 
evangelist. " About all they can do is to tell 
their beads." 

" Well," rejoined the priest, €t if they can do 
that intelligently without neglecting their house- 
hold duties, why should they be molested ? " 

" But," insisted the evangelist, " I have always 
regarded beads as a relic of paganism. You will 
find them in use among Mohammedans, Bud- 
dhists and Brahmins." 

205 



206 MEMOIRS OF ZI PRE' 

" I admit/' acknowledged the priest, " that it 
is not an exclusively Christian practice to use 
beads as a help to memory in the recitation of 
prayers, but that proves nothing, unless that hu- 
man nature is pretty much the same all over the 
globe. In the first ages of the Church beads 
were employed by hermits in the wilderness and 
by monks in the cloister. The word bead is of 
Christian origin and derived from the German 
word beten — to pray, thus proving by its very 
derivation the use to which it was first ap- 
plied." 

" Where did Catholics get the term ' Ros- 
ary ' ? " asked the evangelist. 

" From the Latin word ' rosarium/ meaning a 
rosebed," replied the priest. " The German 
equivalent is Rosenkranz, or wreath of roses 
which the faithful offer the Queen of Heaven. 
Catholics very likely took it from the title, * Mys- 
tical Rose/ by which the Church salutes the 
Mother of God. A special festival called the 
Solemnity of the Most Holy Rosary of the 
B. Virgin is annually celebrated on the first Sun- 
day in October. Its object is to commemorate 
the victory of the Christians over the Turks in 
the battle of Lepanto. For the rosary in its pres- 
ent form we are indebted to St. Dominic, 
founder of the Dominicans or Preaching Friars, 
a religious order providentially organized in the 



THE ROSARY 207 

thirteenth century to oppose the heresy of the 
Albigenses, who devastated the Church in the 
southeast of France. Like the Manicheans, 
they taught that the visible world was made by 
the devil. They attacked the sacraments and 
ceremonies of the Church, as well as her author- 
ity and other prerogatives. Although privately 
addicted to shameful disorders, they made a 
great display of austerity. This heresy was in- 
troduced from the East by an old woman. She 
appeared suddenly and had a great many follow- 
ers. They were encouraged by certain barons 
who had confiscated Church property and whom 
councils were condemning under pain of excom- 
munication to restore their ill-gotten goods. 
Through the devotion of the Rosary and the ex- 
planation of its mysteries St. Dominic succeeded 
in bringing back a multitude of stray sheep to 
the one true fold." 

" Well," remarked the evangelist, a I have al- 
ways regarded it as a devotion suitable for old 
women unable to read." 

" The sovereign Pontiff, Bishops and priests 
are certainly able to read," retorted the priest. 
" And I am sure that they never let a day pass 
without reciting at least a third part of the 
Rosary. The simplicity of the devotion renders 
it suitable for both learned and ignorant. It is 
naturally adapted for recitation in common, 



208 MEMOIRS OF ZI PRE 9 

whether publicly in the church, or privately in 
the home circle. You know how acceptable 
prayer in common is to God, for He declared: 
' Where two or more are gathered together in 
my name, behold I am in the midst of them.' " 

" But," insisted the evangelist, " did not our 
Lord say : ' When ye pray, use not vain repeti- 
tions as the heathens do, for they think they 
shall be heard by their much speaking.' Why 
do you recite the ' Hail Mary ' so often ? Isn't 
that a vain repetition ? " 

" No," rejoined the priest, " not any more 
than the chant of the angels recorded in the gos- 
pel : ' Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of hosts.' The 
custom of repeating the same form of prayer is 
most natural to man, especially when he is under 
the influence of strong emotion. The ancient 
Jews were familiar with it, as may be learned 
from various passages of the Psalms, but more 
particularly from the 135th Psalm, in which the 
same words : ' for His mercy endureth forever/ 
are repeated twenty-seven times. Influenced no 
less by the custom of the Jews than by the ex- 
ample of our Divine Redeemer, who during His 
agony in the Garden of Gethsemane, thrice re- 
peated the self-same word, the Christians early 
adopted the form of repetition in their private as 
well as public devotions. The oft-repeated Hail 
Marys are like so many drops of heavenly rain 



THE ROSARY 209 

which, constantly falling, produce an impression 
upon even the most hardened sinner. 

" Did the rosary suggest no thought for medi- 
tation, then it might be a vain repetition. But 
such is not the case, for its joyful, sorrowful 
and glorious mysteries comprise the entire plan 
of man's redemption. Hence, it has been justly 
styled the ' Breviary of the Laity.' What more 
need we know regarding salvation than those 
mysteries acquainting us of the Redeemer's ad- 
vent, that for us He died upon the cross ; that by 
the merits of His death we cannot fail to be 
saved, unless we refuse to co-operate with di- 
vine grace; that if we wish to reign hereafter 
with Christ in glory, we must take up our cross 
and patiently follow Him along the thorny path 
to Calvary? How consoling to the Christian is 
the mystery of our Lord's resurrection, the de- 
scent of the Holy Ghost upon the Apostles, His 
divine mission to guide them and their succes- 
sors in the ways of holiness and truth all days 
unto the consummation of the world? What 
prayers more beautiful than those composing 
the rosary : the Our Father, uttered by our Lord 
Himself when the Apostles said to Him : ' Lord, 
teach us to pray ' ; the Hail Mary, made up of 
words pronounced by the Archangel Gabriel, St. 
Elizabeth and the Church? If the recitation of 
the rosary becomes for some a vain, mechanical 



2io MEMOIRS OF ZI PRE' 

repetition, the fault lies, not in the devotion it- 
self, but in their own voluntary distractions/' 

" Father/' asked Pasqualino, who had been 
following the conversation intently, " does a 
pair of beads lose the indulgence if loaned to 
another ? " 

" Beads," replied the priest, " are indulgenced 
for one person only. If lent or given to an- 
other with the intention of enabling him to gain 
the indulgence, they cease to be indulgenced as 
well for the lender as for the receiver. Of 
course, if someone took your beads without your 
knowledge or consent, they would not lose the 
indulgences attached to them. None is permit- 
ted to sell indulgenced rosaries, even though he 
charges no more than the price demanded before 
they were blessed. Such sale would cause them 
to lose the indulgence. To ask a higher price 
on account of the indulgence would be simony." 

" Mother makes us children say the rosary ev- 
ery night before we go to bed," said Tasqualino, 
"and I often wanted to ask you what indul- 
gences are attached to its recitation." 

u Both plenary and partial indulgences," re- 
plied the priest, " are granted to those who re- 
cite the entire rosary, or even five decades and 
who meditate briefly upon each of the mysteries. 
For those unable to meditate it will be enough to 
say the rosary devoutly. When the faithful 



THE ROSARY 211 

unite to recite the rosary, either at home or in 
the church, it suffices if one hold the indulgenced 
beads. The others can gain the indulgences, 
provided that ' having rid their minds of all dis- 
tracting cares they apply themselves to pray 
along with the person holding the beads, and 
form the intention of gaining the indulgence.' " 



CHAPTER XXIV 

FASTING AND ABSTINENCE 

"T CANNOT see what advantage Catholics 
JL derive from fasting and abstaining/' 
said the evangelist. " Surely the miseries of life 
are great enough without our trying to augment 
them. What possible homage can be rendered 
to God by an empty stomach and plastering the 
forehead with ashes? I am a firm believer in 
three square meals a day during Lent, as well 
as at any other time.' 5 

" Did it ever occur to you/' asked the priest, 
" why all nations of the earth, savage as well as 
civilized, have adopted fasting as a means of 
placating the Deity and of obtaining the graces 
they might need for either soul or body? How 
do you explain this universal sentiment of man- 
kind unless it be founded in our very nature? 
Anyone endowed with even a smattering of bib- 
lical knowledge must be aware that the proph- 
ets in the name of God recommended fasting, 
sack-cloth and ashes to the people. In the Old 
Law ashes were employed as a symbol of pen- 

212 



FASTING AND ABSTINENCE 213 

ance and mortification. When Jonas announced 
to the Ninivites the destruction of their city, 
they proclaimed a general fast, and put on sack- 
cloth and ashes. ' I did eat ashes like bread/ 
says the royal prophet, 'and mingled my drink 
with weeping.' Ashes were used as a symbol of 
penance not only by David, but also by his 
daughter Thamar, by the patient Job, and the 
valiant Judith who placed them upon her head 
and implored God to strengthen her arm that 
she might overcome the tyrant Holofernes. In 
announcing the chastisements that were about to 
fall upon the Israelites, Jeremiah exclaimed: 
' Sprinkle yourselves with ashes, ye leaders of 
the people, for the days of your slaughter and dis- 
persion are accomplished, and you shall fall like 
precious vessels.' " 

" Do you think," asked the evangelist, " that 
the Catholic ceremony of blessing and distribu- 
ting ashes at the beginning of Lent was intro- 
duced in imitation of a similar custom in vogue 
among the ancient Jews ? " 

"There can be no doubt about it," rejoined 
the priest. " In early days public sinners who 
wished to atone for the scandal given came bare- 
footed to the church and implored forgiveness 
before the entire congregation. Kings and 
princes formed no exception. The penance vol- 
untarily performed by Henry IV for three days 



214 MEMOIRS OF ZI PRE* 

before the castle gate of Canossa in order to lift 
from his head the ban of excommunication is 
historic. The bishop invested these public peni- 
tents with mourning garments. He placed ashes 
upon their heads and sprinkled them with holy 
water. After the recitation of the seven peniten- 
tial psalms and litany of the saints, he led them 
out to the door of the church and said : ' behold, 
you are to-day rejected from the threshold of 
God's house because of your iniquities, just as 
Adam was expelled from Paradise on account of 
his transgressions.' He exhorted them not to de- 
spair of God's mercy, but by fasting, prayer, 
almsgiving, pilgrimages and other good works, 
they should render themselves worthy of being 
readmitted into the Church on Holy Thursday. 
These unfortunate sinners immediately under- 
took the most rigorous works of mortification 
so that they might be allowed to approach again 
the sacraments. Public penanc'es have become 
obsolete, but the custom of putting ashes on the 
foreheads of the faithful at the beginning of 
Lent is still in vogue. ' Unless you do penance,' 
says the Lord, ' you shall all likewise perish.' " 

" But what advantage is derived from fast- 
ing ? " demanded the evangelist. " Man should 
follow the dictates of nature. If he feels hun- 
gry he ought to eat." 

" If a man put no restraint on the dictates of 



FASTING AND ABSTINENCE 215 

his corrupt, fallen nature/' replied the priest, 
" he would speedily land in the penitentiary. As 
moderation and sobriety are the best supports of 
health, so fasting and abstinence are the surest 
means of regaining it. I never yet attended a 
sick call where the doctor did not command the 
patient to fast and abstain. The abstinence pre- 
scribed by the physician is usually much severer 
than that commanded by the Church. Those af- 
flicted with pneumonia, typhoid or inflammation 
of the digestive organs must abstain from all 
solid food and confine themselves to a liquid diet. 
A noted physician declared that when he began 
practice, he had a dozen remedies for nearly 
every disease, but after a few years' experience 
he realized that there was only about one remedy 
for every dozen ailments. Fasting is really one 
of the greatest specifics known to medical sci- 
ence. It is the best remedy for a multitude of 
ailments, the surest safeguard of health, the 
simplest and easiest means of prolonging life. 
More people die of gluttony than of starvation. 
Millions live almost entirely on a vegetable diet. 
We must not imagine that because animal food 
is more stimulating it is therefore more nutri- 
tious. It really seems to contain nothing but 
what may be found at a much lower price and in 
a much purer state in vegetable productions. A 
reference to tables of chemical analysis will 



216 MEMOIRS OF ZI PRE' 

clearly demonstrate this. Our wants in regard 
to food are very few, if we eliminate those arti- 
ficial wants which self-indulgence has created. 
It is said that brown bread alone with an occa- 
sional drink of good water suffices to maintain 
the body in health and vigor." 

" You must regard Lent as a sort of social 
blessing/' commented the evangelist with a 
smile. 

" It certainly is from a hygienic standpoint," 
replied the priest, " and especially if we con- 
sider the time in which it comes, viz. : the spring. 
Spring is the most favorable season to repair 
the disorders of health. In the spring every- 
thing that vegetates undergoes a kind of fermen- 
tation. Fresh herbs supply more wholesome 
juices in the spring than at any other period; 
and the best remedy for, or chief preservative 
against most diseases is undoubtedly abstinence 
and a vegetable diet. Who can enumerate the 
variety of vegetable compounds advertised with 
their list of incredible cures and testimonials ? " 

" Oh, there may be some temporal advantages 
in fasting," acknowledged the evangelist, " but 
what spiritual benefit do we derive from it? 
Our Lord Himself declared : ' not that which 
goeth into the mouth defileth man; but what 
cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man 
(Matt, xv, ii.) 



> 3> 



FASTING AND ABSTINENCE 217 

" These words/' replied the priest, " were ut- 
tered by our Lord to refute the teaching of the 
Pharisees, who maintained that by partaking of 
food with unwashed hands, defilement was im- 
parted to the food, and this food defiled the soul, 
just as if the spiritual soul could be contami- 
nated by material food or drink! To disabuse 
their minds of this stupid prejudice our Lord 
teaches them that no food of itself defiles a man, 
but that defilement proceeds from the sinful af- 
fections and desires of the heart. He by no 
means intended to assert the absence of sin, if 
we partake of food contrary to God's prohibi- 
tion, as did our first parents; or, as the Jews 
would, by eating food forbidden them ; or, the 
primitive Christians, had they violated the Apos- 
tolic injunction commanding them to abstain 
from things strangled, and from blood; or 
Christians, nowadays, if they violate the laws of 
fasting and abstinence enjoined by the Church 
whom all are bound to hear and obey. Certainly 
a man is defiled by drinking to excess, for 
' drunkards shall not possess the kingdom of 
God.' It is not what goeth into the mouth that 
defiles, but what cometh from it, viz.: disobedi- 
ence to the law of God and the dictates of right 
reason. It is absurd to think that our Lord 
would condemn in theory what He confirmed 
by His own example. Did He not fast forty 



218 MEMOIRS OF ZI PRE* 

days in the desert before entering upon His 
public mission ? " 

" Well, if we tried to follow His example in 
this respect/' said the evangelist, " we would 
speedily land in the cemetery." 

" The primary object of fasting," said the 
priest, " is to subdue the passions. The Church 
has always regulated this point of discipline 
with due regard to age and climate. Now that 
constitutions seem debilitated she grants many 
alleviations to our weakness. The sick, the 
poor, the laboring man who earns his bread by 
the sweat of his brow, the seamstress who plies 
her needle and thread, the boys and girls em- 
ployed in our factories, and those engaged in 
the arduous labor of teaching are not obliged to 
fast. They have sufficient motive to be dis- 
pensed. The universal fast from which no one 
is exempted, is the fast from sin. This is the 
perfect fast ' that denying ungodliness and 
worldly desires, we may live soberly, justly and 
godly/ ' What will it profit you/ says St. 
Chrysostom, ' to make your bodies thin and lean 
with fasting, if your hearts be swelled with 
pride and envy? What does it avail to abstain 
from wine and beer, and to be drunk with in- 
iquity? Let your eyes abstain at all times from 
vain and criminal objects, from sinful litera- 
ture; your ears from improper discourse; your 



FASTING AND ABSTINENCE 219 

tongues from cursing, swearing, slander, cal- 
umny and detraction ; your hands from unlawful 
deeds; your hearts from irregular desires; in a 
word, your five senses from the proximate occa- 
sion of sin. Thus you will satisfy by the interior 
spirit of mortification and penance what your 
bodily infirmities may not allow you to per- 
form.' " 



CHAPTER XXV 

CHRISTIAN ETHICS 

"T^VATHER," said the evangelist one Thurs- 
X/ day morning, " I have no further ob- 
jection against Catholic doctrine. My real 
trouble is putting it into practice. With one 
breath I can make an act of faith in all the mys- 
teries which the Church proposes for my belief, 
but I find some of her precepts extremely dif- 
ficult. She is too exacting." 

" Well, my dear friend," replied the priest, 
" faith alone will never save you. ' Not every- 
one that saith " Lord, Lord," shall enter the king- 
dom of Heaven, but he that doeth the will of my 
Father, he shall enter the kingdom of Heaven/ 
If you admit articles of faith because divinely 
revealed, you have no solid motive for refusing 
obedience to the rules of that faith. If divine 
revelation forces you to believe them, it also 
obliges you to obey them. Where is the diffi- 
culty in their observance?" 

" Oh, some of them are practically impossi- 
ble," exclaimed the evangelist, " especially when 

220 



CHRISTIAN ETHICS 221 

you consider human frailty and the strong 
temptations continually assailing us. Why, one 
would have to pass his whole life in anguish and 
misery. It is enough to drive a man crazy even 
to learn all the rules and regulations he must 
observe. God wants His creatures to be happy. 
He doesn't expect impossibilities of them. 
Hence I think that we are dispensed from most 
of the Church laws." 

" The Arabian, Averroes, a Mohammedan, 
first declared the Christian law impossible. 
€ Lex Christianorum lex impossibiliumf Rather 
incongruous for a Christian to accept as judge 
of his law a follower of Mohammed, to adopt his 
opinion and language! Why should we assume 
as axiomatic an assertion expressly contradicted 
by the Founder of Christianity? < My yoke is 
sweet and my burden light/ said our Lord. Ac- 
cording to St. John, * His commandments are 
not difficult/ Christ certainly ought to know 
something about the law He promulgated, our 
strength to fulfill it and the help He gives us for 
its observance. If He has declared His law not 
difficult, what a presumption for anyone to con- 
tradict Him ! Besides, to declare his law impos- 
sible implies the blasphemy that He acts as a 
tyrant towards men. Christ is a true legislator. 
Would it be compatible with divine goodness, 
clemency, mercy and justice to promulgate a law 



222 MEMOIRS OF ZI PRE' 

impossible of accomplishment? Let us imagine 
that when the Lord created man, he called you 
into consultation regarding the law He was 
about to make and said, ' Do you think that it 
would be all right for this man whom I created 
to have other gods before me? Might he per- 
haps worship the sun, moon and stars? Should 
he not be allowed to bow down like the Romans 
before Jupiter the corrupt and revengeful; like 
the Athenians before Mercury the robber; like 
the Gauls before Teutates the eater of children ; 
like the Corinthians before Venus the prostitute ; 
like the Egyptians before a crocodile, an onion, 
or a torn cat ; like the Negroes of Central Africa 
before a boa constrictor; or should he adore me 
alone?' Your answer would be undoubtedly: 
' O, Lord, to thee alone is due supreme worship 
and adoration/ 

" ' And what about my name ? Should it be 
profanely uttered in blasphemy, oaths and im- 
precations ? ' ' No, Lord,' you would instantly 
reply, ' nobody should dare to take Thy adorable 
name in vain.' 

" ' Well, here is the earth with its fruits and 
flowers, its variegated wealth of riches for your 
exclusive benefit. Enjoy yourself to your heart's 
content. And in return will you deny me a 
couple of hours one day of the week in order to 
express your gratitude for the favors received 



CHRISTIAN ETHICS 223 

and to ask me for additional blessings which 
you may need for the soul and body ? Will you 
refuse to visit me for a short while one day out 
of the seven and show a little respect for the 
habitation I occupy in a special manner ? ' Most 
assuredly you would answer that the Sundays 
and holidays should be sanctified and the 
churches respected. 

" And what about those who brought us into 
existence ? " asked the priest. " Should any re- 
gard be shown for those who nourished and 
clothed us, who, perhaps, at great sacrifice pro- 
vided for our education ? " 

" Oh," exclaimed the evangelist, " it is only 
natural that we should honor our parents, since 
they hold the place of God and provide for all 
our wants." 

" Do you think/' asked the priest, " that wilful 
murder, fighting, anger, hatred, revenge, bad ex- 
ample or scandal should be tolerated among 
men ? " 

" These crimes are universally condemned, ,, 
said the evangelist. " I believe in the command- 
ment ' Thou shalt not kill/ " 

" What about men wallowing in the mire of 
impurity," asked the priest, " seducing each 
other's wives and sisters, and foisting upon the 
community a progeny without parents responsi- 
ble for their support and education; in other 



224 MEMOIRS OF Zl PRE' 

words, a nation of fatherless children, such as 
the socialistic advocates of free love desire?" 

" That would change the human race into a 
herd of swine/' said the evangelist. 

" Does it seem right," continued the priest, 
"that men should live like ferocious beasts of 
the jungle, that we should do away with the 
right of private property and let each one grab 
and hold what he can ? " 

" I am not a socialist," retorted the evangelist. 
" I firmly believe in the command, ' Thou shalt 
not steal.' " 

" Perhaps you may think," said the priest. 
" that an outward appearance of goodness will 
suffice, and that with impunity we may enter- 
tain in our hearts all kinds of depraved desires." 

" Oh, no," rejoined the evangelist, " the Lord 
is pure and just and His law must be immacu- 
late. With all my heart I subscribe to the com- 
mands forbidding us to covet either our neigh- 
bor's wife, or his goods." 

" Well, my dear friend," remarked the priest, 
" don't you realize that you have sanctioned the 
law which you declared impossible? In not a 
single commandment can be found anything un- 
reasonable or what is not demanded by our very 
nature. To declare the law impossible is the 
same as to assert that man cannot live accord- 
ing to his reason, that he cannot speak or hear, 



CHRIST I AX ETHICS 225 

because he is endowed with a tongue and a pair 
of ears. You will have to invent some other 
excuse for the impossibility of the Christian law, 
because the one alleged is invalid.'' 

" Your explanation," said the evangelist, 
u was confined to the decalogue. The precepts 
of the Church comprise so many other things. " 

" I restricted myself to the decalogue," re- 
joined the priest, " because I have never yet dis- 
covered anyone willing to observe the command- 
ments of God who balked at the precepts of His 
Church. The grumbler usually complains of 
the sixth and seventh. If these two cause him 
no inconvenience, the others will not annoy him. 
The new r doctrines promulgated by our Lord 
have rendered the observance of the ten com- 
mandments easy. To become entirely submis- 
sive to the Divine Will it helps exceedingly to 
know God better, to have a clearer idea of His 
infinite goodness, power, majesty and His in- 
tense love for mankind. This knowledge con- 
quers our intellect and wins our affection. 
Christ, our Legislator, has enlightened us won- 
derfully in regard to these truths, and having 
placed them beyond all doubt by His authority, 
has given a powerful incentive to our will." 

u But has He not placed new duties upon us 
with the sacraments, Mass and other Church 
precepts ? " asked the evangelist. 



226 MEMOIRS OF ZI PRE' 

a Those precepts," replied the priest, "enable 
us to observe the primary law, viz.: the ten 
commandments. Supposing that two of my 
acolytes were ordered to fulfill an errand down 
town. To one I simply give the message; to 
the other, for his greater convenience, I say: 
' Here is carfare, a horse and buggy and a 
bicycle; take your choice.' If he complained of 
so many modes of transportation being placed at 
his disposal would he not be considered insane? 
That is precisely our case. The decalogue 
obliges us to adore God alone, to acknowledge 
Him as our supreme Lord and Master, to seek 
His forgiveness when we have offended Him, in 
a word, to love Him above all things, and our 
neighbor as ourselves. Now what does our 
Savior do? In order to adore God properly, 
He says through His Church : ' Assist de- 
voutly at the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass which 
is the greatest act of worship that can be of- 
fered the Almighty.' To propitiate Him with 
certainty and to remove all doubt anent the ac- 
ceptance of your expiation, approach the tri- 
bunal of penance. As a pledge of your loyalty, 
you will receive Him at stated intervals in Holy 
Communion. You are bound by natural and 
divine law to devote in a particular way some 
special time to the worship of the Creator. The 
divinely authorized voice of the Church removes 



CHRISTIAN ETHICS 227 

all practical doubt on the subject by telling you 
* to hear Mass on Sundays and holidays of obli- 
gation/ By these and similar provisions she 
has rendered the observance of the Decalogue 
within the reach of all. Why then complain of 
the very thing that should arouse your deepest 
gratitude? The wings of an eagle may be 
heavy, but they help him to fly. The wheels of 
a wagon may be cumbersome, but remove them 
and see what progress you will make. The 
same may be said of the precepts of the Church. 
At times they may seem difficult, but they ren- 
der the observance of the divine commandments 
all the easier.' 5 

H Christ added more perfect, but very ardu- 
ous, if not impossible precepts/' said the evan- 
gelist. 

" He added more perfect precepts," replied 
the priest, " but He did not increase the difficul- 
ties of their observance. He has thereby saved 
us many struggles in less perfect things. Not 
content that we should abstain from revenge, 
He wants us to do good to our enemies. It is 
much easier to forgive a foe entirely and restore 
him to our friendship, than to nourish a feeling 
of animosity that does not develop into hatred. 
He wants us to abstain also from evil desires." 

" Well, that is impossible," exclaimed the 
evangelist. 



228 MEMOIRS OF Zl PRE' 

" No," rejoined the priest, " that is Christian 
perfection. It is much easier to banish the ini- 
tial desire than to abstain from translating it 
into deeds once the desires are deliberately en- 
tertained. In the first case it is only a question 
of conquering a temptation appearing as an un- 
welcome visitor on the threshold of the mind; 
in the second case it is the arduous work of 
expelling a welcome desire firmly entrenched in 
the soul and which perhaps had the senses as its 
accomplices. It is easier to resist a burglar 
while he is still on the outside than after he has 
gained an entrance into your domicile. Hence 
we should be ever vigilant in guarding the sight, 
hearing and sense of touch scattered all over the 
body, because the senses are avenues through 
which sin usually enters and takes possession of 
the soul. That man's knowledge of the human 
heart is very limited who fails to understand 
how much easier it is to abstain entirely from 
certain things than to use them even in modera- 
tion. Our Lord who knew our fallen nature 
most intimately, has provided for all its infirmi- 
ties through the channels of His grace, the seven 
sacraments. Not content with imposing His 
law, our Lord imparts grace to observe it. The 
world sees only the difficulties and is frightened 
at them. Grace being spiritual does not fall 
under the senses. The individual accustomed to 



CHRISTIAN ETHICS 229 

measure everything by what he can feel, see or 
taste, doesn't even suspect the power which 
grace communicates to the soul. It enlightens 
the mind and makes man know how beneficial it 
is for him to do what he is divinely commanded. 
It causes him to view the purpose of the law 
from a desirable aspect. He appreciates it? un- 
derlying motives of wisdom and goodness. In 
his soul is aroused the holy desire of observing 
the law. His heart, which at first was cold and 
indifferent, becomes suddenly transformed by 
ardent love for the author of the law. The 
more intimately he grows in the knowledge and 
love of the Divine Legislator, the more eager 
and devoted he becomes in His service. 

" Real, genuine love is undaunted by labor, 
hardship or sacrifice. Look at it in the natural 
order. What induces men to spend days, weeks 
and even months in the jungle, depriving them- 
selves of life's comforts and exposing them- 
selves to the attacks of ferocious beasts? It is 
the love of hunting and adventure. Why do 
scientists devote days and nights toiling and ex- 
perimenting in their laboratories, scarcely taking 
time to eat or sleep? It is the love of knowl- 
edge. Why does a mother pass many a weary 
vigil at the bedside of the sick? It may be the 
love of a husband or a darling offspring. In a 
similar manner the love of fame or military 



230 MEMOIRS OF ZI PRE* 

glory will incite a soldier to undergo the sever- 
est hardship and even shed his blood on the 
field of battle. The love of gain furnishes an 
incentive to the merchant to undertake perilous 
journeys, to deprive himself of the ordinary 
comforts and all this, simply to increase his bank 
account. But why multiply illustrations? Will 
the love of Jesus Christ, so pure and fervent, 
produce no effect in the heart it dominates? 
Will it not furnish a powerful incentive for the 
observance of His law? It certainly spurred on 
the martyrs to undergo the most excruciating 
tortures. What induced the Gentiles, steeped in 
every vice and abomination, to conquer them- 
selves and lead a truly Christian life? Those 
idolaters were men of the same temperament as 
we. Like us they were subject to the same 
weakness and passions. Explain how so many 
of the present day, surrounded by all manner of 
temptations, manage to control their appetites 
and to lead exemplary Christian lives. These 
facts can only be explained by the power of God's 
grace and the ardent love which it inspires to 
follow in the footsteps of His only begotten Son. 
The observance, therefore, of His law is not 
impossible. He himself has assured us that His 
yoke is sweet and His burden light* 



CHAPTER XXVI 

THE EVANGELIST'S DESPAIR 

THE evangelist's health did not improve, — a 
circumstance which brought upon him fre- 
quent fits of melancholy. Instead of making a 
virtue of necessity by suffering patiently his ill- 
ness in atonement for his misspent life, he sought 
to drown his sorrow and to stifle the qualms of 
conscience in worldly dissipation. Within a very 
short period he became a physical as well as 
spiritual wreck. Unable to bear the monotonous 
strain of remaining continually in his room, he 
found diversion watching the players in a gam- 
bling den on South Clark Street. One of them 
he knew personally, at least he imagined so. He 
did not, however, realize that this individual, al- 
ways unusually lucky when observed by him, was 
connected with the establishment, and acted the 
role of stool-pigeon. " If this fellow can win 
so regularly, why not I ? " soliloquized the unsus- 
pecting evangelist. Several months of enforced 
idleness had diminished considerably his hard- 
earned savings. And as if they did not dwindle 

231 • 



232 MEMOIRS OF ZI PRE' 

fast enough through the weekly payment of room- 
rent, board, doctor's bills and prescriptions, he 
resorted to gambling. One evening he brought 
along the remnant of his earnings and sacrificed 
them on the altar of fickle fortune. He saw with 
feverish anxiety his stack of chips gradually van- 
ish down to the last one. Huge crystal beads of 
perspiration studded his brow while his heart 
thumped like a trip-hammer. He finally placed 
his solitary chip on the color red, and awaited 
results. The little ball spun around, and settled 
on the black space. Despair was depicted upon 
his countenance, while the face of the stool pi- 
geon wore a broad grin. " You mustn't mind my 
smiling," said the latter, " because I always laugh 
when I'm sorry.'' 

Staring for a moment at the Sphinx-like banker 
of the roulette table who was busy raking in the 
coin of the other players, the evangelist arose 
abruptly and descended to the street. He pro- 
ceeded west on Jackson Boulevard and reached 
the bridge just as it began to swing open to let 
a steam barge pass through the draw. While 
leaning against the rail and gazing at the murky 
waters beneath, a horrible temptation took posses- 
sion of his soul — the thought of self-destruc- 
tion. " Why continue the agony? " he muttered. 
"What have I to live for?" When a man 
reaches this point of depravity, he is either in- 



THE EVANGELISTS DESPAIR 233 

sane, or he has lost all idea of God, the soul, and 
eternity. He has extinguished every spark of 
faith. He has decided upon a plan, and it only 
remains for him to carry that plan into execu- 
tion. 

The bridge closed ; autos and pedestrians scur- 
ried past the solitary figure at the railing. " This 
place," he thought, " is altogether too public. 
Some busybody would surely see me take the fatal 
plunge, and fish me out. The bridge at Taylor 
Street is more secluded and less frequented. 
There I shall not be noticed." Accordingly to 
that deserted locality he directed his steps. Had 
he even a particle of faith, he would have reasoned 
in the following manner : " I am not master of my 
life ; it belongs to God Who gave it to me. I must 
use it for the end for which He gave it. By de- 
stroying it, I violate His most sacred rights. I can 
imagine myself a corpse, and foresee an end to my 
present misery. But supposing it were really 
true what religion teaches, viz., that man is not 
like a dog whose destiny terminates here below? 
If there really be an eternity and a hell . . . what 
will become of unfortunate me who deprived God 
and society of my life by the crime of murder? " 

But no such salutary reflections entered his 
mind. At that particular crisis he was utterly be- 
reft of all religious sentiment. In fact, as he 
afterwards acknowledged to Zi Pre^, his one con- 



2$4 MEMOIRS OF Zl PRE r 

suming regret before shuffling off this mortal coil y 
was that he did not have a gun to murder all the 
gambling thieves connected with the den in which 
he lost his money. Wending his way south on 
Canal Street, he came unmolested to the Taylor 
Street Bridge, and actually had one leg over the 
railing to take the final leap when he was startled 
by the deafening report of a pistol the bullet of 
which seemed to whiz within a few feet of his 
head. Then from the east end of the bridge came 
a gruff voice exclaiming : " Hey ! What are you 
trying to do? Get down off that rail, or I'll put 
a hole through you." By the light of the moon 
he deciphered the outline of a burly night watch- 
man holding in his right hand a very unattractive 
looking revolver. If the evangelist were really 
bent upon self-destruction, it could hardly make 
much difference to him by which route he went. 
What more natural than to invite the intruder 
to blaze away? Yet he did nothing of the kind. 
For some unaccountable reason he was frightened 
out of his sinister purpose by the shot fired in 
the air to scare him away. Not only did he get 
down instantly from the railing, as commanded, 
but started west on a Marathon, scarcely slack- 
ening his speed until breathless and exhausted he 
landed in front of Guardian Angel Church. A 
mission happened to be in full swing, and evi- 
dently thinking that his pursuer was still after 



THE EVANGELISTS DESPAIR 235 

him, he entered the sacred edifice, and was soon 
lost in the congregation. 

The missioner was a venerable septuagenarian 
with snow white hair and a deep baritone voice 
that easily penetrated every corner of the build- 
ing. His sermon, were it specially prepared for 
the benefit of our would-be suicide, could not have 
been more appropriate. 

u Holy Scripture tells us," exclaimed the 
preacher, " that ' the fool hath said in his heart : 
there is no God/ He hath said it in his heart, 
the seat of human affections ; in his heart, which 
having transgressed the divine law, and being 
corrupted by his vices, wishes there were no God 
to witness and punish them. He wants no im- 
mortality, no eternity, no hell, since they would 
be for him so disastrous. He hath said it in his 
heart which clouded by the darkness of passion, 
cannot bear the dazzling light of faith. He hath 
said it in his heart which execrating whatever 
might restrain his sensual appetites, naturally 
hates religious truths that condemn his excesses 
and open to them the infernal abyss. 

" He has said it in his heart which wields in- 
deed too great an influence over his intellect, 
making truth appear odious, and rendering false- 
hood fascinating and attractive. 

" Scan the pages of history, and you will find 
that the most notorious apostates who abandoned 



236 MEMOIRS OF ZI PRE' 

their faith, that faith which they at one time pro- 
fessed and practised, began by trampling under 
foot the most sacred laws of morality. Their in- 
itial step was crime, then a sinful habit followed 
by deep corruption, and finally impiety. Luther 
kept the faith so long as he kept his vow of chas- 
tity. No sooner did he lose the angelic virtue than 
he began to be dominated by his animal nature 
which had to be indulged. The religious habit 
proved an obstacle. Therefore he will cast it 
aside, blasphemously asserting that man has al- 
ways the right to gratify his appetites. Religious 
vows are in the way. Very well, he will break 
them, teaching that vows are not binding and that 
religious profession after all is an invention of the 
devil. Church laws are a barrier. Well, what 
more simple than to trample them under foot, and 
declare that the Church has degenerated from her 
primitive spirit? The Pope opposes this lustful 
monk. But he will discredit the Visible Head of 
the Church and call him Antichrist, heaping upon 
him all manner of abuse and vilification. Pas- 
sion demands the sacrifice of faith, and he will 
gladly immolate it on the altar of passion. In the 
beginning of his reign Henry VIII had the faith 
to such an extent as to be styled ' Defensor 
Fidei ' and the great adversary of Luther. But 
he developed in his heart a miserable passion for 
one of his courtesans. To gratify this unlawful 



THE EVANGELISTS DESPAIR 237 

desire he must forget the teachings of religion. 
Passion commands and he obeys. For the sake 
of a woman the champion of Catholicism will be- 
come the Church's greatest scourge, and for their 
Christian loyalty he will destroy the flower of the 
English nation. 

" Ask an Augustin why from a fervent Catholic 
he became a follower of the Manicheans. As the 
cause of his defection he will point out, not the 
books he studied, but the illicit friendships he cul- 
tivated. He will tell you, blushing in his con- 
fessions, that the excesses of his passions were 
the cause of his mental aberrations. 

" And you, my dear friends, acknowledge it sin- 
cerely ; if there were ever a moment in which the 
light of your faith was in danger of going out; 
if the love of religion ever grew cold in your 
heart, was it when you practised mortification and 
held in check your sinful inclinations? Was it 
when you conducted yourselves properly before 
God and man, or was it not rather when your ac- 
tions betrayed a moral decadence? Ask your 
conscience, and hear the answer. Be thankful to 
the Lord who enabled you with His grace to over- 
come yourselves, and to stop before plunging over 
the precipice. The sinner begins by declaring to 
God : ' I will not serve Thee/ and ends by saying : 
* There is no God/ Inexperienced youth falls 
into the company of wicked associates who, under 



23% MEMOIRS OF ZI PRE' 

the pretext of making him happy, corrupt his 
heart. He abandons every pious practice. He 
thinks only of diversion, pleasure, and the grati- 
fication of his passions. To his corrupted heart 
religion appears only as a tissue of superstitions 
and fables. Faith has no longer for him any at- 
traction. It becomes in fact odious, impossible, 
full of sorrows and afflictions. There no longer 
remains for him a vestige of what he once loved 
and adored. While the world with its sensual 
amusements and deceits robs him of his health, 
honor, and wealth, it deprives him of the conso- 
lations of religion. Nothing remains but black 
despair, and eventually the criminal desire of self- 
destruction. But you, my dear friends, by at- 
tending the mission, have given me proof that you 
love your holy religion. The passions may have 
occasionally whispered into your ear their seduc- 
tive language; the world. may have tried to cor- 
rupt and drag your souls into the mire of iniquity, 
but you no doubt have shown a courageous re- 
sistance. You have manfully repelled the seduc- 
ers and exclaimed : ' Free me, O Lord, from the 
lions that roar about me; keep me under Thy 
powerful protection. My enemies shall fall right 
and left, but I will preserve my independence. I 
will be free with the freedom of the sons of God. 
My faith I will keep as a most precious treasure 
and defend it with all the strength of my soul/ 



THE EVANGELISTS DESPAIR 239 

Thus when you reach the end of your earthly pil- 
grimage, you will be able truthfully to repeat with 
the Apostle : ' I have fought the good fight, I 
have finished my course, I have kept the faith. 
As to the rest there is laid up for me a crown of 
justice.' (II Tim. iv.)" 

The sermon made a deep impression upon the 
evangelist who rested his weary head upon the 
seat in front of him and kept his face buried in 
his hands during the Benediction. His whole 
life seemed to pass in review before him. He re- 
called the days of his childhood when he was in- 
nocent and happy. What delight he then took 
in the practice of his religion ! The scene of his 
father's death came vividly before him. How 
he had contemptuously ignored all the paternal 
admonitions given him! What an amount of 
grief and shame he brought upon his poor mother 
and brothers through his scandalous misbehavior ! 
When assembled about the death-bed of their 
father, how fervently they recited for him the 
litanies and prayers for the dying. With what 
fervor and devotion the father kissed the crucifix 
a few moments before entering eternity. Bitter 
indeed was the remembrance of his flight to Amer- 
ica, and subsequent apostasy from the faith. 

Most of the people had filed out of the church, 
but he still remained. Lines of penitents began 
forming on either side of the confessional, but 



240 MEMOIRS OF ZI PRE 

he could not summon up sufficient courage to join 
them. He lingered in his seat long after the 
missioner had gone into the rectory. 

" When does the mission close ? " he asked of 
the sacristan who stood waiting impatiently in the 
vestibule to extinguish the lights and lock the 
door. 

" Sunday night," was the curt reply. 

All desire for a watery grave had vanished com- 
pletely from the evangelist's heart. Emerging 
from the church he went straight home and to 
bed. 



CHAPTER XXVII 



THE EVANGELIST'S DREAM 

OF all the nights through which the evangel- 
ist ever lived during his chequered career, 
the one following his attempted suicide was by 
far the most horrible and unforgettable. After 
tossing restlessly upon his bed for more than an 
hour he fell asleep. In his slumber he experi- 
enced not only the agonies of a drowning man, 
but also the terrors of the particular judgment. 
His first sensation was that of jumping from the 
Taylor Street Bridge and striking the water with 
terrific force. Down, down he went into the 
water at least eight or ten feet when his body 
began gradually to rise. " Oh for a breath of 
air ! Will I never reach the top ? M he asked him- 
self. Kicking convulsively with his feet, and 
waving his arms in desperation, he managed some- 
how to reach the surface and take one short 
breath. In breathing, however, he swallowed 
such a quantity of water that he commenced to 
cough and choke as he sank the second time. 
Then came a deafening roar in his ears, while his 
temples began to ache and throb as if they would 

241 



242 MEMOIRS OF ZI PRE' 

burst. Again he vainly attempted to breathe, but 
instead of air he inhaled into his lungs the filthy 
water of the river, and strangulation ensued. His 
body then descended like a lump of lead to the 
bottom of the river where it remained for quite a 
while. Afterwards it began to swell and rise to 
the surface where it floated like the carcass of a 
dog. His heart had long ceased to beat, and yet 
he felt that he was not altogether dead. His soul 
has left his body which it now views with the 
greatest horror and repugnance. The city is 
shrouded in darkness, yet on the river bank he 
observes the majestic figure of one whose face 
shines like the sun and whose garments are whiter 
than snow. That countenance seems so familiar. 
Where has he seen it before? Why that is the 
very face his father looked upon when dying. 
That same figure the artists so often modelled in 
clay and gypsum in the studio ! He recognizes 
him now, for it is the figure of Jesus Christ. In 
statues and in pictures he usually saw Him with 
His hands and feet pierced by cruel nails, in His 
side a gaping wound, and upon His head a crown 
of thorns. But now He is crowned with a diadem 
of ineffable glory. Jesus is looking at him with 
eyes of fire, and he turns away from that pene- 
trating gaze to the other two figures of the group. 
He certainly ought to recognize them, for they 
followed him faithfully from the cradle to the 



THE EVANGELISTS DREAM 243 

grave. One is his guardian angel concerning 
whom the Lord declared : " Behold I will send 
my Angel who shall go before thee, and keep thee 
in thy journey, and bring thee into the place that 
I have prepared." (Exodus xxiii.) The other 
is a black and hideous demon. He scoffed at 
Pasqualino's child-like faith when the latter told 
him at the Zoo that " the devil went about like a 
roaring lion seeking whom he might devour." 
And here sure enough he appears like a ferocious 
beast with looks full of hatred, malice, and tri- 
umph as well. But what is the meaning of this 
strange aggregation? Why does the Savior of 
Mankind appear in such company ? Great God ! 
He appears not as a gentle, merciful Savior, but 
as inexorable Judge. There is going to be a trial, 
and I am the unhappy defendant. I foolishly 
imagined to escape all this by drowning, and I 
have only hastened it. Everything is clear to 
him now, but unfortunately the knowledge comes 
too late. He is standing a trembling culprit be- 
fore his Eternal Judge. He is going to be tried 
by the Decalogue which he had discussed so flip- 
pantly with the priest a short while ago, and the 
observance of which he declared impossible. 
God had said to him : " I am the Lord thy God, 
thou shalt have no strange gods before me." And 
he had deified his animal passions for love of 
which he forfeited his immortal soul. God had 



244 MEMOIRS OF ZI PRE' 

declared : " Thou shalt not take my name in 
vain " ; and oh, how often he had dishonored that 
Sacred Name by his imprecations and blasphe- 
mies ! God had said : " Remember that thou keep 
holy the Sabbath day." He had neglected Mass 
for years, and spent the day in gambling and de- 
bauchery. The Lord had said : " Thou shalt not 
kill." And here he is with the sin of suicide upon 
his soul, to say nothing of the other souls he 
ruined through scandalous conduct. Looking 
back upon his earthly career he beholds every sin 
of thought, word, deed, and omission rising up 
against him. The demon is there as his accuser 
bold and defiant. " This soul belongs to me," he 
shrieks. " Scrutinize it closely. Doesn't it re- 
semble me?" The evangelist regards himself 
and beholds the horrid sight of one dead and rot- 
ting in mortal sin. Each crime has left its own 
peculiar stigma on his soul. He sees the foul 
corruption of lust, the putrid scars of anger and 
hate, the horrid seals of sordid avarice. Once it 
was effulgent as the sun, radiant and pure as the 
angel by his side. Then it was a living temple of 
the Holy Ghost. But now what an abominable 
transformation! It has become a sink of un- 
cleanness and a den of demons. 

" This body also belongs to me," exclaims the 
demon pointing to the bloated corpse upon the 
water's surface. " I claim those eyes as mine by 



THE EVANGELISTS DREAM 245 

all the lustful looks they have ever given. I claim 
those ears as mine by all the scandal, calumny, 
and detraction they have so greedily devoured. 
I claim that mouth as mine by all the immodest 
words, curses, and blasphemies, it has ever ut- 
tered. I claim those hands as mine by all the 
thefts and improper acts they have ever com- 
mitted. I claim those feet as mine ; for they were 
ever swift to carry him to the haunts of vice, and 
slow to bring him to the house of God. Don't 
you notice the mark of the beast upon his body ? " 
And as he spoke the demon pointed to the shame- 
ful marks of disease which the poor evangelist 
knew so well how to hide in life, but which could 
no longer be concealed in death. 

" This is a Christian soul/' exclaimed the 
Guardian Angel. " Don't you behold upon it the 
indelible marks of baptism and confirmation?' 3 

" Oh yes," retorted the demon with a mock- 
ing sneer, " but instead of being for his honor and 
glory, they can now increase only his shame and 
punishment. In baptism he solemnly promised to 
renounce me, and all my works and pomps. How 
has he kept that threefold pledge? Through 
Confirmation he received the Holy Ghost in order 
to become a strong and perfect Christian, a val- 
iant soldier of Jesus Christ. What kind of a 
soldier has he really been? Did he not barter 
away his priceless gift of faith for a mess of 



246 MEMOIRS OF ZI PRE' 

pottage? Have you not solemnly declared that 
you will deny before your Heavenly Father those 
who have denied you before men? Is there a 
single commandment of God or His Church that 
he has not broken? He has ever boasted of his 
shame and of the souls he ruined. He stands be- 
fore you now with a chain of iniquity reaching 
from early childhood to the very moment in which 
he took his suicidal plunge from yonder bridge. 
Does my testimony need corroboration ? " 

Instantly there sallies forth a horde of repro- 
bates from the lower regions. Glaring, they fix 
upon him a look of recognition. " Aha ! " they 
shout in fiendish glee. " Don't you recognize 
us ? We are your unfortunate paesani whom you 
induced to apostatize through your blandishments 
and flatteries. You brought about our ruin, and 
we shall escort you now to hell." 

" Enough ! " thundered the Judge in righteous 
indignation. Then turning to the unhappy soul, 
He added : " Depart from me — " 

At that critical moment the evangelist felt him- 
self sinking rapidly as it were into the very bow- 
els of the earth. He never heard the completion 
of the dreadful sentence, because falling heavily 
upon the floor he suddenly awoke. 

" Thank God," he fervently exclaimed, " it was 
only a dream. But oh how near it came to real- 
ization ! " 



THE EVANGELISTS DESPAIR 247 

Weak from exertion he remained for quite a 
while on the floor, pondering over the harrowing 
details of his dream. He gradually fell into a 
peaceful slumber and when he awoke the morn- 
ing sunlight was streaming through the window. 
Letting his gaze wander about the room, not a 
single object escaped him. He must have had a 
terrific struggle in his nightmare, for the bed- 
sheet was torn to shreds. Upon the walls hung 
mezzotints of actresses in scant attire, while the 
mantelpiece contained an array of pornographic 
statuettes. u Managgia!" he exclaimed in a fit 
of anger, " you have tyrannized over me long 
enough, and to-day your infernal reign is going 
to end." Suiting the action to the word, he 
jumped up and seizing the nymphs and goddesses 
he dashed them to pieces on the floor ; the pictures 
he tore into small bits. The work of demolition 
proving too much for his exhausted strength he 
fell into a deadly swoon from which not even a 
loud rapping on the door was able to arouse him. 
The Toscano who had received no answer to his 
repeated knocking finally forced the door open 
and was amazed at the spectacle confronting 
him. The room looked as if it had been visited 
by a cyclone. The floor was littered with the 
debris of broken statuary and fragments of pic- 
tures. Near the centre table lay the prostrate 
form of the evangelist who to all appearances 



248 MEMOIRS OF ZI PRE 

was dead. The first impulse of the visitor was 
to notify the coroner, but upon second thought he 
drew forth a pocket mirror which he held to the 
nostrils of his friend. To his delight he discov- 
ered a slight impression upon its surface. Gently- 
raising the limp body, he placed it upon the bed, 
then darting down stairs and into the street, he 
hastened to the nearest drug-store in quest of a 
physician. 



CHAPTER XXVIII 

THE AWAKENING 

**^TT^HE evangelist has an acute case of dia- 

I betes and is not expected to live/' said 

Pasqualino to Zi Pre' one morning during Lent. 

" Where does he reside ? " asked the priest. 

" In a nest of evangelists on Congress Street, 
near Halsted," replied the boy. "A grizzled 
old Toscano, who resides with him, told me that 
Antonio was very strong in Scripture, that both 
of them were sculptors and that they used to 
make the statues which we adored in our 
churches ! I asked him if he had sent for the 
priest. ' Oh, he doesn't want any priest/ 
sneered the old reprobate. ' If he wants to con- 
fess his sins, he can confess them to God/ Just 
the same I feel certain that Antonio would 
be glad to see you in spite of what the 
old fellow said." 

u . I will try to get over there to see him some 
time during the day," commented the priest. 
" Meanwhile you ought to offer up a fervent 
prayer for his conversion." 

249 



250 MEMOIRS OF ZI PRE 9 

That same day the priest visited him, but with 
little or no success. The elder apostate remained 
in the sick man's room during the priest's visit, 
and nothing was accomplished. 

A few days later came a note from His Grace, 
the Archbishop, saying : " Dear Rev. Sir : The 
enclosed letter reached me a short time ago. 
Kindly endeavor to locate this unfortunate man 
and do what you can to bring him to a sense of 
his duty. That the good Lord may crown your 
efforts with success is the fervent prayer of 
yours sincerely." 

The Italian communication addressed to the 
Archbishop ran as follows : 

"Your Excellency: Kindly pardon this in- 
trusion on your valuable time, while I humbly 
implore Your Grace to render what assistance 
you can in bringing back a stray sheep to the 
fold. I am an Apostolic missioner in far-off 
India, and my parents in Lucca have always been 
practical Catholics. It is with deepest shame 
and sorrow that I must inform you that my 
brother, Antonio, four years younger than my- 
self, has not only fallen away from the practice 
of his religion, but what is still worse, has joined 
a false one, and is doing all in his power to 
spread it among his fellow countrymen in Amer- 
ica. I cannot imagine what has come over him. 



THE AWAKENING 251 

I really think that his mind must be affected. 
His downward career began shortly after my 
father's death. After my departure for the mis- 
sion in India there was nobody at home to con- 
trol him and he had practically his own way. 
My poor mother remonstrated with him repeat- 
edly about his conduct, but in vain. His un- 
natural, unfilial behavior has driven her almost 
insane. Finally, to escape her constant nagging, 
as he expressed it, and without even bidding her 
good-bye, he suddenly stole away with another 
worthless character to America. He has a good 
education and at one time had serious thoughts 
of entering the priesthood. In fact, he made two 
years of theology and was dismissed from the 
seminary for lack of vocation. I learned of his 
apostasy through an acquaintance who wrote 
about him to relatives in Lucca, and told them 
that I might display my missionary zeal a little 
nearer home before attempting to convert the 
natives of India. I have written to him repeat- 
edly in order to make him realize the enormity of 
his crime. I told him that he would be guilty of 
matricide by hastening my mother to an early 
grave. Once he condescended to favor me with 
an answer full of insolence. He informed me 
that I did not know what I was talking about, 
that he had finally seen the light and intended to 
follow it; that he would go his way and I could 



252 MEMOIRS OF ZI PRE 

pursue mine, and that he would not brook any 
interference with his religious views. All my 
subsequent letters to him have remained unan- 
swered. What is still more aggravating, I am 
unable to give his present correct address, for 
he has changed domiciles several times since he 
went to Chicago. I feel confident that if Your 
Grace should instruct some zealous Italian priest 
to look up this unfortunate brother of mine, with 
a little kindness and patience he might be brought 
back to the one true Fold. Down in his heart of 
hearts he is only shamming. I can only offer 
your Grace the profoundest gratitude and prayers 
of his grief-stricken mother and brother for the 
paternal interest you may take in his behalf. 
Kissing your episcopal ring, I beg to remain, 
" Your most humble and obedient servant, 

Signed. 

Zi Pre' had little difficulty in locating Antonio, 
at whose bedside he had spent fully an hour in 
vain just a few days before the arrival of the 
biographical sketch from his brother. Still he 
did not despair. It happened to be Friday and 
the children were to assemble in the Church at 
half past three in order to make the Stations of 
the Cross. 

" Children," he said, " I want you to make the 
Way of the Cross this afternoon with all the fer- 



THE AWAKENING 253 

vor possible for a special intention, viz.: for the 
conversion of an unfortunate sinner. Beg Al- 
mighty God to enlighten his mind and strengthen 
his will so that he may realize the importance of 
his eternal salvation." 

The devotion at which the grown-up people as- 
sisted in the evening was prefaced by a similar 
request. Whether it was in answer to the ap- 
peal of the children and parents at the Way of 
the Cross on that Friday of Lent, or the fervent 
prayers of a sorrow-stricken mother and brother, 
or to the petitions of all concerned — we are not 
prepared to say. The ways of Divine Provi- 
dence are inscrutable. 

One thing certain, somebody's prayers were 
heard. For the very next morning after Mass, 
a messenger was anxiously awaiting the priest 
in the sacristy to have him go to the house of An- 
tonio as soon as possible. 

Zi Pre' lost no time in complying with the re- 
quest. No sooner did he enter the room of the 
unfortunate man than the latter greeted him with 
the words : " Padre, io sono un porco, un ingrato, 
un animale!' (Father, I am a pig, an ingrate, a 
beast.) Then rising to a sitting posture in the 
bed, he made the sign of the cross very devoutly, 
perhaps the first time in years. Motioning to the 
grizzled evangelist he said to him : " Please get 
out of here and shut the door after you. I want 



254 MEMOIRS OF ZI PRE 

to talk to the priest alone." The latter arose sul- 
lenly, and muttering all sorts of imprecations 
proceeded to the door which he viciously slammed 
behind him as an indication of the way he felt 
over the priest's arrival. 

Poor Antonio made a general confession of his 
whole life, a profession of faith and received ab- 
solution. " Father," he said, " I want to repair 
the scandal given as far as it lies within my 
power. Would you mind writing to the Rev. 

Mr. , Evangelical Minister, and tell him 

kindly to scratch my name off the register of 
his sect, as I desire to have it inscribed in the 
Book of Life? Tell him that it is my wish to 
live and die in the bosom of the one, Holy Cath- 
olic, and Apostolic Church, the one true Fold, 
outside of which there is no salvation." C 

" My dear friend," said the priest, " it will be 
one of the greatest pleasures of my life to fulfill 
your wish." 

" There is another favor I would ask," said the 
sick man. " If you think that it would do any 
good, you can publish my profession of faith and 
retraction in the Italian newspaper." 

" If it does no good," replied the priest, " it 
can certainly do no harm." The following week 
on the front page of the local Italian newspaper 
there appeared a two-column article under the 
caption "CONVERSIONE DI ANTONIO," 



THE AWAKENING 255 

etc., with his letter of resignation to the evangel- 
ical minister. This little news item evoked from 
the latter a four-paged communication of ram- 
bling vituperation which Zi Pre' promptly con- 
signed to the waste-basket. After a month or so 
Antonio was able to leave his bed and walk with 
the aid of a cane. He attended Mass every 
morning and became a weekly communicant. 
Thus he lingered on for nearly two years, w r hich 
he spent in edifying reparation of the scandal 
previously given. A second stroke overtook 
him, from which he never recovered. After a 
week's illness and conscious up to the last mo- 
ment, he finally died in the odor of sanctity. 

As for Pasqualino, the Lord evidently did not 
intend him to follow the commercial career of 
his father, notwithstanding the picturesque vari- 
ety of vows made by the latter to the contrary. 

From early childhood the lad had given unmis- 
takable signs of a priestly vocation and his 
mother determined that no obstacle should be 
placed in the way of its attainment. 

" God gave him to us in the first place," she 
used to say to her husband, " and He therefore 
has the best right to his service. Think of that 
unfortunate apostate Antonio whom he brought 
back to the Fold. Zi Pre' assured me that our 
Pasqualino, more than anyone else, was instru- 
mental in his conversion. The Lord only knows 



2 5 6 MEMOIRS OF ZI PRE' 

how many more wretched sinners he is destined to 
save. To force him into a secular pursuit for 
which he has neither taste nor talent would be 
nothing short of criminal. It would be placing 
both our own as well as his salvation in jeop- 
ardy." 

Pasqualino was, therefore, allowed to continue 
his classical studies in the college, as far as rhet- 
oric inclusively. Upon the recommendation of 
Zi Pre' the Archbishop sent the promising lad 
to a European university where he obtained the 
laureate both in philosophy and theology. 

At present he is laboring zealously in the Lord's 
vineyard, a credit to himself and a source of in- 
effable joy to his devoted mother who, like the 
mother of the sons of Zebedee, fondly imagines 
no position in the hierarchy too exalted for her 
darling offspring. 



THE END 



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